Getting Started Tonight
by Bexish
Summary: When Zoe forgets her wallet a stranger buys her a cup of coffee, which leads to an interesting summer. AU.
1. I Knew The Minute I Picked You Up

A/N: This is my first ever Zoe and Wade fic! Well that's not entirely true. I did another one but I didn't publish it. I'm still marinating on that one. My beautiful friend katiekayx read this one and assured me it did not suck, so hopefully this is the start of a lot of fun Zade fic because ugh, I love them so much. Wade is such a precious puppy. Anyway, I don't own anything Hart of Dixie related and I borrowed the title for this from a Jason Aldean song. I hope this does not disappoint!

* * *

"So that's a venti caramel iced latte with two shots of espresso, whipped cream and extra caramel?"

"Right," Zoe said, digging through her backpack for her wallet. Usually she stuck with black coffee, but she had woken up late and her hair resembled a brown cotton ball thanks to the humidity. She deserved a ridiculously sugary coffee drink.

The barista waited patiently for her to look through her bag, which made Zoe feel more frantic. She always had her wallet with her. There was no way she had forgotten it. And yet, as she dug to the bottom of her backpack, she remembered taking it out to order something online the night before. Instead of putting it back right away, she had left it on her desk. Cursing silently, she turned back to the barista with a sheepish look on her face. "Actually, not right. I forgot my wallet, sorry." She gave him a weak smile, even though she felt like crying. She was absolutely exhausted and had back to back classes all day. That stupid latte was supposed to be the best part of her day.

Zoe turned to leave, but she felt someone walk up behind her. "I've got it," a male voice said. "Add a large black coffee to that, too."

"You don't have to do that," Zoe said, turning around to take in her knight in shining armor. With his flannel shirt and slightly messy blond hair, he didn't look like any kind of knight she had seen. "Seriously, don't worry about it. No one needs that much sugar in the morning anyway."

He waved her away. "It's 6am on a Friday and you're lugging around the world's biggest backpack. I think you need the coffee more than I need the three bucks."

"Well, thank you," Zoe said. She tried to think of something else to say, but the mystery guy had pulled out his phone and was looking at something on the screen. When the barista set their drinks down she went to grab hers, but he picked it up first.

He handed her the drink, examining the name on the cup as he did. "You have a nice day, Zoe."

"You too…" she trailed off, realizing she didn't know his name.

He winked, which made Zoe flush. She usually thought winking came off as totally slimy, but he made it charming. "See you around," he said, pushing open the door to the coffee shop. Even though Zoe was far too busy with medical school to think about guys, she hoped he was right.

Three days later, Zoe got her wish. After the fiasco that was Friday morning, she had gotten up extra early on Monday so she could actually have a little time to breathe on her way to class. She was halfway through a cup of coffee and reviewing a chapter of an anatomy book when someone sat down across from her. "So you're a doctor?"

It would've been impossible to mistake her mystery coffee guy for anyone else. He looked exactly the same as he had on Friday, down to the red flannel shirt. She didn't understand how anyone could wear flannel in May in Alabama, but from his accent Zoe guessed he was probably used to the heat. "I'm working on it," she said proudly. "Only one more year to go, and then it's back to New York." She couldn't wait to get back to real life.

"How'd a big city girl like you end up in Alabama?" he asked, stifling a yawn. Zoe noticed the dark circles under his eyes and wondered if he'd even gone to bed at all the night before.

"I got a scholarship," Zoe said, not mentioning that the school in Alabama had been her absolute last resort. Apparently smaller schools had more scholarships to give out than Columbia or NYU, though. "Trust me, the second I get my diploma I am hopping on a plane home. I do not fit in here. Nobody here wears black." In her black shorts and striped tank top with sequined straps, Zoe looked practically gothic among the other girls in their bright floral sundresses.

He gave her a shirt an appraising look. "I think that shirt is working for you just fine," he said. Zoe instinctively covered up her (admittedly minimal) cleavage with her hand, which made him smirk.

"If you're going to stare at my boobs will you at least tell me your name?" Zoe asked. "You got to see my name on Friday but you never told me yours." As romcom as it was to chat with a stranger in a coffee shop, Zoe liked being able to put names to faces. Especially when the face came with such a contagious smile.

He pushed his coffee toward her so she could see the name on the cup. "Wade," she read, looking back and forth between the cup and his face. "You look like a Wade." She had never met anyone else named Wade before, but she knew whenever she heard the name from now on she would picture him.

"And you look like a Zoe," Wade countered, taking a long drink of his coffee. Zoe liked that he was sitting there talking to her instead of going about his day, even though he looked absolutely exhausted.

Zoe hoped she looked better off than Wade did. "How do I look like a Zoe?"

Wade started ticking off reasons on his fingers. "It's short. And perky." He thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess that's it."

"First of all, I'm not that short," Zoe said. "I am almost average height for a woman. And I am so not perky." Perky made her think of cheerleaders, bouncing around in pleated skirts waving pom pons. She was so not that type of girl.

"It is the crack of dawn and you're babbling about clothes and your boobs," Wade said through a huge yawn. Zoe could see every single one of his teeth, and they were all perfect.

Zoe looked down at chest again and pulled up the neck of her tank top. "I was not talking about my boobs," she said, realizing how loud she sounded in the nearly empty coffee shop. "And I don't babble. Also, it's not that early. I've been up for over an hour already."

"I've been up for fifteen," Wade shot back.

Fifteen hours didn't seemed like an extraordinarily long time to Zoe, but the hours were definitely strange. "Are you secretly Batman or something?"

"A bartender," Wade said. "So, kind of like Batman."

Zoe shook her head. "Nothing like Batman. Don't bars close early on Sunday nights? Why are you still awake at 6 a.m.? And drinking coffee? That's really not healthy," she said. She tried her best to sound concerned, but she was very aware that she just came off as judgmental. A couple of her teachers had made comments about her lack of appropriate bedside manner, but she wasn't sure how to change her entire personality.

Wade gave a low chuckle. The deep, throaty noise seemed out of place in a public coffee shop. It seemed too intimate. "Calm down, Doc. I sleep a normal amount, even if it's not at the same time as everyone else. And when I drink coffee, it's not covered in whipped cream."

"That was once!" Zoe argued, pointing at her coffee cup. "I just have black coffee today." It also had espresso in it, but she didn't mention that. Being constantly caffeinated was practically a requirement in med school.

He tried to look at what was written on her cup, but Zoe rotated the cup so he couldn't see her order. "That kind of makes it look like you're lying," Wade said, stretching. He glanced at his watch as it slipped down his wrist. "It's not 6 a.m., by the way. It's 6:45."

"That's even worse," Zoe said, shaking her head. She had her coffee cup halfway to her mouth before she registered what he said. "Wait, it's 6:45?"

"6:47, actually," Wade said, checking the time on his phone. He took a sip of his coffee like he had all the time in the world, but Zoe shot to her feet.

"I have class at 7," she said, hefting her backpack onto her shoulders. If she hauled ass she could probably make it to class in time, but she really had to go. "Maybe I'll see you again tomorrow!" She didn't know if Wade visited the coffee shop every day like she did, but maybe he would since she brought it up.


	2. It Was Gonna Be A Wild Ride

Zoe never found out, though. She had every intention of going back to the coffee shop, but her school schedule had other plans. Finals were only two weeks away, and she was getting hit fast and hard with all the information her professors hadn't managed to squeeze in earlier in the semester. She stayed up nearly all night Monday, flipping through flashcards to test herself on vocabulary. Around 4 a.m. she wondered vaguely if she would see Wade at the coffee shop. Ten minutes later, she fell asleep on her couch and forgot all about it.

Two days later, an ATM ate Zoe's debit card. Not being one to carry cash, she skipped the coffee shop again to avoid racking up a caffeine-based credit card bill. Once she got used to not stopping by the coffee shop in the mornings, it was easy to forget about it entirely. Wade even faded from her mind, replaced by medical terminology and the nuances of her exam schedule.

On a Friday night at the end of April, Zoe took her first deep breath in nearly a month. Her final exams were over, and a few of her classmates had invited her to go out for drinks with them. Truthfully, Zoe wasn't really friends with her classmates but she wasn't one to turn down an opportunity to go out. Her friends from home were constantly posting Facebook and Instagram pictures of themselves out at bars and Zoe was usually just home at her apartment. She could hardly complain since she had chosen four years of medical school after finishing undergrad, but it was nice to take a break from the academics for a while.

Her classmates all seemed to be from the area, because they kept running into people that they stopped to talk to. After half an hour of pretending she fit in, Zoe just gave up and settled in at the bar. All around her people were celebrating the end of the semester with their friends while she just sipped her Long Island iced tea, taking it all in. She had been in medical school for three years and she hadn't managed to accumulate any friends there yet. All of her friends from undergrad were back in New York. She was just about to dive headfirst into an alcohol-fueled pity party when someone interrupted her internal monologue.

"Long time no see, Doc." The voice sounded familiar, and Zoe had a feeling the person was talking to her. She swiveled around on her stool, surprised to come face to face with Wade.

"Okay, when I said maybe I would see you tomorrow at the coffee shop a few weeks ago, I meant it," Zoe said, taking a fortifying sip of her drink. "But then I had to study for finals and my debit card got eaten and do you know how many different words you have to know to be a doctor?"

Wade leaned against the bar, looking amused. "I wasn't going to yell at you," he said. "But now that you mention it, it _is _funny that you can make it to a bar but not the coffee shop." Zoe was about to protest but Wade held up a hand and disappeared into the kitchen. When he came back, he had a basket of fries. "A peace offering," he said.

Zoe took a fry from the basket and handed it to him. "I'll share as an apology for not seeing you at the coffee shop," she said. She ate a fry of her own, trying not to wince at how greasy it was. Even after being in Alabama for nearly three years she wasn't used to how heavy all the food was. She had ordered sushi once at a restaurant and even that seemed to have a coating of oil all over it. "So, this is what you compared to being Batman?" She had definitely been to better bars, even by Alabama standards.

"It's not the greatest," Wade admitted. "But you should see the place I'm going to buy. You'd love it."

"I'd love it?" Zoe asked, grabbing another fry in spite of herself. "You don't know anything about me except that I occasionally drink coffee."

"And you're going to be a doctor," Wade added. "And you like wearing tiny shorts with sparkly shirts."

Zoe instinctively looked down at her outfit. She was wearing her favorite pair of high-waisted shorts with yet another glittery tank top. "Okay, you've got me there," she conceded. "Is the place you're buying around here? Maybe I'll check it out." Now that the semester was over, Zoe hardly needed a reason to hit up the local bars, but recommendations were always good.

"It's not really around here," Wade said. "It's over in BlueBell." Zoe shook her head, not familiar with the town. Alabama was filled with tiny little towns and she hadn't had a reason to visit any of them. "It's about half an hour away," he continued. "I used to live there. The restaurant's called the Rammer Jammer, and the guy who's owned it forever is finally retiring."

She nearly choked on a mouth full of Long Island. "The _Rammer Jammer_? Is it just the fact that I've been drinking or is that insanely dirty sounding?"

Wade grinned, and Zoe noticed a girl across the bar staring at him. That smile probably got him a lot of tips. "The Rammer Jammer is a BlueBell institution," he said. "If I changed the name, the town would probably get together to throw me in the mayor's lake."

"I want my own lake," Zoe said, even though she had never swum in a lake in her life. Lakes were filled with snakes and creepy plants. She could get a boat and take it out to go tanning, though. "How could I become the mayor of BlueBell?"

"You'd have to dethrone Lavon Hayes, and I don't think anyone could do that," Wade said. "He's football royalty. People love him there."

Zoe liked listening to Wade talk about BlueBell. It reminded her of how she talked about New York. He obviously loved the town. "How'd you end up here?" she asked. "I haven't seen any suggestively named restaurants here, so it's obviously not as interesting as BlueBell."

Wade shrugged, pushing his sleeves up over his elbows. "After high school my friends went off to college and there aren't a lot of jobs to go around in BlueBell. I've been working my ass off at this place to save up the money for the Rammer Jammer before someone else jumps on it so I can go back. I'm not really a city person."

"You would really hate New York," Zoe said. If he thought the college town they were in was the city, he wouldn't last ten minutes in New York. "I can't wait to go back after I graduate. All I've ever wanted was to be a surgeon at a hospital in New York."

"You might want to reconsider the shorts when you get a big interview," Wade suggested, taking Zoe's nearly empty glass from her. She was about to complain, but he refilled it with rum and Coke. "Although I have to say, they are an interesting change of pace." His eyes had a mischievous glint as he checked out her shorts.

Zoe looked away and took a long sip of her drink, feeling a little flustered. "I had a Long Island iced tea, you know," she said, trying to steer the conversation away from how she was dressed. She liked that he was enjoying her outfit, but she wasn't sure how she wanted this to go.

"Yeah, but if I give you a second one you might end up going home with Joey over there," Wade said, nodding toward a guy with slicked back hair across the room.

She wrinkled her nose. "Definitely not," Zoe said. "He is not my type." The words were out of her mouth before she considered the obvious follow-up question Wade would no doubt ask.

"What is your type, then?" he asked, not letting her off the hook.

Even after thinking for a minute, Zoe couldn't come up with anything. "I have no idea," she said. She hadn't had a relationship since she was doing undergrad in New York and the few dates she'd had in Alabama hadn't gone anywhere. "Not him, though." When she thought about the future she always thought about being with someone successful and career-oriented, like she hoped to be. For the time being though she had no idea what she was looking for, if she was looking for anyone at all. "And for the record, I would not get drunk and go home with a stranger." She had seen enough Lifetime movies to know that probably wouldn't end well.

"Excuse me, could I get a beer?" a woman called from down the bar, sounding irritated. Wade gave the woman a smile as he walked toward her, which sent a spark of jealousy through Zoe. She wanted to be the one Wade was smiling at. While he poured the woman her beer Zoe finished her own drink, wondering if she should find her classmates. It wasn't like she could spend all evening talking to Wade. She was just about to put down some cash for her drink when Wade came back.

"Your drink's on the house," Wade said, nodding at the money in Zoe's hand. "I didn't give you what you wanted anyway."

"Put it toward the Rammer Jammer," Zoe insisted, handing him the money. "I should probably—"

She was about to say she should find her friends when one of the girls from her class tapped on her shoulder. "Zoe!" she said loudly, sounding way too drunk. "We're going to go to a club! You've got to come with us!"

Even though Zoe had just been planning on leaving, she had no interest in going to a club with a group of wasted girls that she didn't know all that well. She gave Wade a trapped look and he just shrugged, setting a glass of something on the bar in front of her. "You know, I just ordered this drink," Zoe said, shooting Wade a silent thank you. "How about I finish up here and just meet you guys later? I'll find you at the club." Never mind the fact that she had no idea where they were going.

Her classmate nodded emphatically. "That's such a good idea," she said. "So you can text me when you get there and we'll find you." Before Zoe could say anything, the girl gave her a big kiss on the cheek and joined the rest of their classmates, who waved at Zoe.

Zoe waved back and picked up the drink Wade had given her, which was just soda. "You just saved me a lot of pain," she said gratefully. "They're a lot easier to handle in class when they're not drunk."

"Come on, you probably just made better plans that you didn't want to tell them about," Wade said teasingly.

"At midnight?" Zoe asked, looking at her watch. "Unfortunately, I do not have any better plans for tonight." After going to the bar, she had just assumed she would go home and watch Gossip Girl on Netflix until she fell asleep, like she did every night. Not that Wade needed to know that.

"I was thinking you could buy me a coffee when I get off work then," Wade said. "Since you skipped out on me last time."

"I was not," Zoe said automatically, before she realized Wade was trying to make plans with her. "I think I could do that," she amended. She suggested that they meet at the coffee shop where they had met and Wade just shrugged.

Zoe was certain that sometime in the last thirty seconds Wade had changed his mind, but after a second he flashed her that smile she had been picturing all evening. "Maybe I'll see you there."


	3. Like You Couldn't Get Enough

A/N: I originally planned on this story just being a little oneshot as a way of testing out Zoe and Wade stuff, but wow you guys were so nice about it! An overwhelming amount of people (as in, more than one) said they wanted to see what happens next, so I'm going to keep going with it. I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to go with it yet, but I'm excited to dive deeper into the story. I hope you guys like it!

* * *

The coffee shop was open 24 hours a day, but Zoe wasn't surprised to find it empty when she got there at 3 a.m. Even the barista seemed shocked that someone had shown up. "Can I get two black coffees, please?" Wade had ordered a black coffee for himself the first time they had met, so Zoe figured it was a safe bet. She considered ordering hers decaf, but she drank so much coffee she was pretty sure small amounts of caffeine no longer had an effect on her. Besides, she was tired enough that she would probably crash as soon as she got home.

Zoe had left the bar shortly after she made plans with Wade, figuring it would be weird to hang around the bar for three more hours while he worked. For a little while, she was very tempted to not leave her apartment. There was Netflix at her apartment, and her favorite snap pea crisps. But as much as she wanted to stay in for the night, she wanted to see Wade again more. As the minutes passed by at the coffee shop, she tried to convince herself he felt the same way.

Making plans to meet someone for coffee at 3 a.m. was ridiculous. By 3:10, Zoe had convinced herself that Wade had forgotten about meeting up with her. Yes, he had said he got off work at three and it would probably take a little time to make his way to the coffee shop, but Zoe's mind was sent into overdrive anyway. She was thinking about a scenario where Wade met a beautiful girl at the bar after she left and went off with her instead when the little bell over the door dinged.

"Is one of those mine?" Wade asked, sitting down at the table across from Zoe.

She tried to hide her surprise that he had actually shown up and slid one of the coffees toward him. "You said I should buy you one," she said. "I'm a good listener."

"Thanks," Wade said, taking a huge gulp. "I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised you're here. I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Of course not!" Zoe had fallen asleep on the couch, but he didn't need to know that. He also didn't need to know that she had woken up in a panic, afraid that she had missed her change to see him again. "I'm always up this late." As she stirred sugar into her coffee she tried unsuccessfully to repress a shiver. She always got cold when she was tired, and she wanted to keep up the impression that she wasn't about to drop on the floor.

"You know, you only have to move your hand to stir things," Wade said. "You don't have to move your whole body."

Trying to suppress the shiver had probably made it a lot more noticeable. "I get cold when I'm tired," Zoe admitted. She had wanted so badly to spend the night talking with Wade and drinking coffee, but it was hard to hide the fact that she was flat out exhausted. Not only was she not always up that late, but when she was she surrounded by blankets. She hadn't even changed out of her tank top and shorts, which was a mistake. She was starting to feel like a human icicle.

"We could always just try this again tomorrow," Wade said suggested.

Zoe shook her head. "I like it here," she insisted. A part of her was worried that if she left now she might not see Wade again. The last time she had said she would see him tomorrow things got in the way and she hadn't seen him for weeks. Maybe she would oversleep tomorrow since she no longer had morning classes and would miss him at the coffee shop, or maybe he would just forget she existed when he woke up. She was just one girl in a sea of blondes with cute little sundresses and pearl jewelry, after all. And she had seen the way other girls looked at him in the bar. If Wade was looking for a girl, he could probably take his pick.

Wade shrugged out of the flannel shirt he was wearing and held it out to her. "At least put this on," he said. "You look like you're having a seizure."

For a second Zoe considered not taking the shirt. He had been working in a stuffy bar all night and she had no idea how often he did laundry. He could have been the kind of guy who wore the same shirt for weeks on end. She changed her mind as soon as fingers brushed against the fabric. Even if the shirt was almost certainly not clean, it was the most comfortable shirt she'd ever put on. "Thank you," she said, pushing up the sleeves over her hands. It was much too big for her, but it made her feel cozy.

"Well I can't just sit here and watch you shake like that," Wade said. "You're like one of those little dogs."

"I feel like I should take offense to that," Zoe said. "It definitely didn't sound like a compliment." She was not a big animal lover in general, but she especially disliked Chihuahuas and all other bug-eyed dogs.

"A lot of people like those little dogs."

Zoe shook her head. "This is a terrible metaphor," she complained. "I don't think anyone really wants to be the human version of a toy poodle or whatever."

"You're right," Wade agreed, running a hand through his hair. "You're more like a cat, anyway."

That wasn't necessarily a better comparison, but Zoe wanted to see where he was going with that. "Care to expand on that?" she asked, noticing that Wade's hair was sticking up a little. She wanted to reach over and smooth it out, but she knew that would be weird. It struck her that even though she hardly knew him, she felt very comfortable around Wade. She hoped he thought they clicked in the same way she did.

"Cats are just… they're cats," Wade said with a shrug. "They're independent. And sneaky."

"I am so not sneaky," Zoe said. She was independent, though. Her last relationship had actually ended because her boyfriend thought that she too committed to her interests instead of their relationship. Zoe just didn't have time for people who were excessively clingy or needy. She had too much going to spend all her time hand holding and reassuring people.

That was part of the reason she found Wade so intriguing. Despite having only seen him a few times she could just tell that he was the kind of person who did what he wanted. Even just sitting in a nearly empty coffee shop in the middle of the night he radiated confidence. Zoe could easily picture him owning his bar and being in charge. He seemed like the kind of guy people listened to.

"You did disappear for a few weeks," Wade pointed out. "I thought maybe you finally got bored of Alabama and went back to New York."

"Not yet," Zoe said. "I might go home for the summer, though." She had been casually planning on it for a couple of months now. It had been months since she'd seen her mom, and she didn't really have anything to do in Alabama all summer. Her plan had been to find a subleaser for her apartment for two or three months and head home. She had friends in the city, and she thought she might be able to talk her way into a last minute internship with a hospital her dad used to work at. Alabama didn't seem as bad as it had when she'd first moved there, but it didn't feel like home.

Wade nodded, and Zoe thought she caught the slightest glimpse of disappointment in his eyes. She brushed it off, knowing she was probably reading too much into things. She was so tired she wouldn't be surprised if she was starting to hallucinate. "Well if you leave, I had an idea for a field trip before you go," he said.

That piqued Zoe's interest. "What's around here to see?"

"I thought you'd like to go check out BlueBell," he said. "The guy who owns the Rammer Jammer wants to sell it as soon as possible so I'm going out there next week to talk to him. I want to figure out some kind of deal so someone else doesn't buy it first."

"You thought I'd like it?" Zoe was touched that Wade had actually thought about her interests. If she was being honest she really didn't care much about going to visit some tiny town, but she did want to go with Wade. If he wanted to show her around she wasn't going to turn him down.

"You could see the mayor's alligator," Wade said, like that was some kind of selling point.

Spending the day with Wade was enough of a selling point for Zoe, but she couldn't just let the mention of an alligator go by. "I really hope that's not a euphemism for something," she said. She picked up her coffee and was surprised to realize it was empty. It felt like they hadn't been there long enough to be out of coffee. Just realizing her cup was empty was enough to make Zoe yawn.

"You should probably get some sleep," Wade said, much to Zoe's disappointment. Even if she was practically asleep on her feet, she didn't want Wade to be the one to end the evening. He redeemed himself, though. "You're going to need to start saving up your energy now if you're going to go to BlueBell."

"Are people weird there?" Zoe asked. "It sounds like people are weird there."

"They're friendly," Wade said, which Zoe took to mean yes. "If you're going to spend the whole summer in the city, you have to come with me to BlueBell. It's an experience you need to have at least once."

"I'll go with you," Zoe promised. "As long as I can go to bed now," she added with a yawn.

Wade got out of his chair and offered her a hand. "Deal," he said. "You need a ride home? I didn't see any other cars in the parking lot." Zoe nodded. She lived just down the street, but she wasn't going to turn down the offer.

It only took a minute to get to Zoe's apartment complex, which was far too little time. "So," Zoe said as Wade idled outside her building. "Is there some sort of way I can contact you, or do I just have to count on randomly running into you again?"

"Are you asking for my number?" Wade asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're the one that invited me to BlueBell," Zoe shot back. "Unless you were just being polite and you don't really want me to go with you at all."

He handed her his phone. "Put your number in," he said. "Now, I don't have Facebook or anything like that, so don't go trying to look me up online."

"I never do that," Zoe said, even though she did it all the time. She liked to know things about the people she met. Especially the ones who invited her to look at alligators in other towns. After she keyed in her contact information, she handed his phone back to him. "Well, I'll see you around," she said. "Let me know about BlueBell."

"I will." Wade glanced at what Zoe had put in his phone, even though it was nothing more than her name and number. "Goodnight, Zoe Hart."

"Goodnight, Wade." She didn't know his last name, she realized. She could have asked, but decided she would find out next time.

Wade waited until Zoe was inside her building before he drove off, which she thought was sweet. As soon as he pulled away it was like the little bit of energy she still had just drained out of her. She trudged up the stairs to her apartment and immediately kicked off her shoes so she could crawl into bed. Zoe drifted off to sleep still picturing Wade's face and the cute way his hair had stuck up at the coffee shop.

It wasn't until she woke up the next morning that she realized she was still wearing his shirt.


	4. Barely Made It Out Of The Drive

A/N: Fair warning, Wade is not actually in this chapter. Zoe does talk about him, though. And of course he will be in chapter 5!

* * *

Zoe wanted to text Wade and apologize for accidentally stealing his shirt, but she didn't have his number. She could've kicked herself for not getting his number when she gave him hers. Normally Zoe was the passive one when it came to guys. She had gone out with a couple of different guys during her time in Alabama and every time she let them take the reins. If they texted her and asked her out, that was fine. If she never heard from them again, that was fine too. She had too much work to do to agonize about whether or not a boy was into her.

Wade was different, though. He wasn't like the hyper-intense people she knew from school. Zoe had never met another person as laid-back as Wade seemed, and it intrigued her. Normally someone like Wade would not be her type at all, but she couldn't deny that there had been a spark when they'd talked. Zoe had no idea if he felt the same way, though. Normally she could spot flirting a mile away, but when it was happening to her she was oblivious. Had Wade asked her to go to BlueBell with him because he was interested in her, or was he just putting on some of that neighborly Southern charm?

Until he texted her, there was no way for her to know. Zoe tried to go about her day normally and made an effort not to look at her phone every five minutes, but it was hard. Without a day full of classes, Zoe had no idea what to do. She made a half-hearted attempt at cleaning her apartment, but tidying up a 400 square foot apartment didn't take long. Without any other ideas, Zoe flipped on her cappuccino maker and started to scroll through Netflix. She had just decided on watching Clueless for the third time that month when her phone rang.

Zoe was not proud of it, but she pounced on her phone and accepted the call before she even checked the screen. "Hello?"

"Zoe! Finally, you answer your phone. You've been sending me to voicemail for a week!" The voice on the other end of the line was decidedly not Wade. Unless Wade did a very good falsetto.

"Gigi," Zoe said, her heartrate slowing down a little bit. "Sorry, it's been crazy here. I just finished my finals yesterday."

Gigi clucked her tongue. "Try being in the city in the middle of party season! I have been at work 10 hours a day for a month now." Gigi had finished her undergrad at NYU with Zoe, but unlike Zoe she had majored in event management and had a job offer with a party planning outfit two days after graduation.

"I thought the winter holidays were the middle of party season," Zoe said. Her mom was Jewish, but she'd been to her fair amount of elaborate Christmas parties.

"The company's expanded to wedding planning, too. I swear everyone in the city is getting married in June," Gigi said. "Do you remember Maggie Clark from our freshman dorm? We're doing her wedding. She's insufferable now, and her fiancé is old."

Zoe laughed. She did remember Maggie, and the many guys who kept her occupied on the weekends. She was always waltzing around the dorm, showing off the gifts they bought her to anyone who would pay attention. "That'll be a fun wedding," she said. "Was that the news you've been urgently calling me with for a week?"

"Of course not," Gigi said. "I called to see when you're coming home. Is it next weekend? Please say it's next weekend."

"I'm not sure," Zoe said. All semester she had been thinking about going back to the city, but the actual act of putting the wheels into motion was more complicated. She had posted a request for a subleaser on her apartment complex's website, but hadn't gotten any hits so far. It wasn't entirely necessary for her to find someone to take her apartment for the summer, but spending less on rent meant being able to spend more in New York. "Definitely not next weekend though," she added apologetically. "I've got plans with a guy I met a little while ago."

"You met a guy and you didn't immediately call me to spill?" Gigi said, sounding mildly horrified. "I have been waiting three years for you to meet a guy."

Zoe wanted to say that there were more important things out there than guys, but she didn't have the right audience for that. "I've dated other guys, Gigi," she said. "And I'm not dating this guy. We're friends. Or something. I'm not even sure."

"Friends," Gigi repeated dubiously. "Is he hot?"

"He is attractive," Zoe admitted. He wasn't her usual tall, dark, and handsome type, but his messy country singer look was strangely appealing.

"So did you sleep with him?"

Gigi's candor was refreshing. People were a lot blunter up north. "I did not," Zoe said. "It wasn't like that." She was uncertain about the amount of flirting that had taken place, but she knew sleeping with him had not even been on the table.

"Is he gay?" Gigi asked. "I always figured a guy would have to be gay to turn you down."

"He's not gay," Zoe said. She technically didn't know that for sure, but she had a feeling he wasn't. "And he didn't turn me down; it didn't come up. We just got coffee last night."

"Well, that's definitely not a date," Gigi said. To Gigi, a date meant reservations at Balthazar followed by cocktails at whatever bar was the place to be seen that weekend. "So, where'd you meet him? Is he in your class?"

"At the coffee shop, actually," Zoe said. "He bought me a coffee a few weeks ago and then I ran into him again last night at a bar."

Gigi cleared her throat and Zoe moved the phone away from her ear. "You ran into him at a bar but you went out for coffee with him instead of having a drink?" Zoe could picture Gigi wrinkling her nose at the idea.

"He's a bartender," Zoe clarified. "We got coffee after he got off work."

Zoe knew Gigi was the type of girl that liked to be swept off her feet and would not be overwhelmed by having coffee. "Well, what are you doing with him this week?" Gigi asked. "Is he actually taking you out?"

"Actually, he has a meeting about a bar he's buying and I'm going with him," Zoe said. She never should have brought up Wade in the first place because she knew the more she talked about him the less impressed Gigi was. Zoe knew that the way she phrased it did not sound remotely interesting, but she didn't know how to explain that it felt important. He wasn't just taking her to see some bar; he wanted to show her around a place that he loved.

"Girl, you're in the friend zone," Gigi said. "You got coffee with him and now you're going to his business meeting? Congratulations, you've found a new bestie. Not a boyfriend."

"I never said he was my boyfriend," Zoe insisted. "All I said was that I met a guy, we went out for coffee and we have plans for this week."

"And that he's hot," Gigi added. "That was probably the most important part."

Zoe shook her head. She loved Gigi, but talking to her could be exhausting. Netflix must have thought so too, because it kicked her back to the Blu-Ray menu. Her cappuccino had probably gone cold, too. "A lot of people are hot, but that doesn't mean I'm into all of them," Zoe said. "Who knows, maybe I'll have more to tell you after I see him this week."

"You better tell me here instead of over the phone," Gigi warned her. Zoe promised that she would do her best to come home as soon as possible, which gave her a lot of leeway when it came to actually booking a ticket.

After she hung up with Gigi she stuck her mug of cappuccino in the microwave and navigated her way back to Clueless. Watching Alicia Silverstone was always a good distraction, but Zoe couldn't really concentrate on the movie. Having a conversation about Wade hadn't been the best way to put him out of her mind. About halfway through the movie, Zoe couldn't help it and glanced at her phone again. No new text messages.


	5. Burning Rubber At The Red Light

A/N: I fell asleep in the middle of writing this chapter briefly/for several hours so I didn't realize that it was getting kind of long for what I had planned. I promise I will have the next chapter up tomorrow to make up for it! Thank you so much to everyone who has favorited or followed or left a review on this. Those notifications always make my day :)

* * *

Monday morning rolled around, and Zoe still hadn't heard from Wade. By Saturday evening she had been annoyed. Why had Wade asked for her number if he wasn't even going to try to contact her? She had gone to bed that night still feeling irritated.

On Sunday Zoe decided she wasn't just going to sit around and wait for Wade to text her. Instead, she went online and ordered her plane ticket to New York, leaving the next weekend. She had told Gigi she probably wouldn't head out that soon, but she couldn't find a reason not to. Aside from her vague plans with Wade, she had nothing keeping her in Alabama. If she found someone to lease her apartment within the next week then great, but if not she would just watch her spending at home.

Even if Zoe had completely misread how interested in her Wade was, she was mollified when she posted a Facebook status about going home for the summer. Within twenty minutes it had over a dozen likes and comments from her old friends asking to get together. When she spent 75% of the year in a place where her number one focus was school, it was easy to forget that she did have a very active social life in New York. It had been easier to balance school and a social life in undergrad, especially in the first couple of years when everyone was taking the same basic classes. The second she left for medical school, all of that went away.

She hadn't been excited to go to Alabama at all, but she thought some things would at least be similar to her life in New York. Zoe hadn't expected people to look at her like an outsider. No matter how friendly or smart she was, she just didn't fit in there. People in her classes were better. They were all there for the same reason, so they automatically had things in common that they could talk about. But when Zoe went out, people kind of shied away from her. Her clothes weren't right and her attitude didn't match up with the wholesome southern atmosphere. Zoe wasn't the type of person to smile at strangers on the street or call people "sugar".

That was why she had liked Wade right away. He didn't seem to care that she didn't fit in. He was the first person she had met in Alabama that she thought she could actually be friends with.

_If he's not actually interested in me then why bother staying in Alabama? _Zoe thought to herself, throwing a pair of shoes in an open suitcase on her floor. She wasn't leaving for a week, but it was something to keep her busy. She wasn't used to having free time. She was debating the merits of a pair of black shoes versus gray when her phone chimed.

"Ready to go?" the text said. It was from a number she didn't know but based on the area code, she assumed it was Wade. She tried not to get too excited, but it was impossible. He hadn't forgotten about her.

"Who is this?" she texted back. She was fairly sure it was from Wade, but it could have just as easily been a wrong number. And assuming it was Wade, he deserved a little heat for not texting her all weekend.

The next text came back almost immediately. "Wade, who else?" A follow up text informed her that he would be picking her up in fifteen minutes to go to BlueBell.

Zoe wasn't sure whether to be irritated or excited. She had expected a little more warning than fifteen minutes. As she hunted for a pair of shorts she realized that she probably should have washed her hair the night before. Now the only thing she had time for was a quick spritz of dry shampoo. Her plan had been to look amazing for the visit to BlueBell and now she would look mediocre at best. She wasn't trying to seduce Wade or anything, but she did want to show him that she could look more put together than she did before class and in the middle of the night.

She quickly selected a tank top to go with her shorts, wishing it was a little cooler so she could come up with a more creative outfit. Zoe had some great jackets that she was dying to wear again, but she had a long hot summer stretching ahead of her. Her hair definitely wasn't looking its best, either. The dry shampoo helped a little, but she had to do some creative mussing to make it look like it wasn't a humidity-laden mess. She tried not to look in the mirror too closely before she left.

Wade was surprisingly punctual. Zoe had expected him to be a few minutes late, but he was outside her apartment building almost exactly fifteen minutes later. "When you said I should go to BlueBell with you I didn't think you would text me fifteen minutes beforehand," Zoe said when she climbed in his truck. "Most people give their friends a little more time to prepare when they make plans."

"I didn't really have a plan," Wade said. "I was just waiting for the owner to call and say he could meet with me."

Zoe was a huge planner. When she was deep into studying she even set timers on her phone for snack breaks. "He just called you and said 'hey, I can meet today, better get to BlueBell'?" She was pretty sure she'd had nightmares before about a very similar scenario.

"Yup," Wade said, clearly not phased. "He said we can talk at one."

According to Zoe's watch, it was almost noon. If this was her meeting she would probably have hives. She worked great under pressure, but she worked even better when she had a solid plan. "So am I observing this meeting or are you just turning me loose in a strange town?" she asked.

Wade shrugged. "The Rammer Jammer will be open," he said. "You can have lunch. Or go to the Butter Stick. I know you like coffee. And the meeting won't take long. He won't give the Rammer Jammer to someone else."

"Have you always wanted to own a bar?" Zoe asked. If Wade was going to make her wait while he had a business meeting then she was going to start doing some prying on the way to BlueBell. If they could ride in a car together for half an hour then they could get a little personal.

"Yeah, since I was a toddler," Wade said with a smirk. "It's not like a lifelong dream or anything. Bartending's been an easy job that's made me good money and if I buy the Rammer Jammer then I can move back to BlueBell."

Zoe had wanted to be a doctor for as long as she could remember. Her entire life had been built upon the goal of being a doctor someday. She wondered what it would be like to just go about your life and then fall into something you enjoyed. "So it's really about BlueBell then," she said, feeling a bit like a detective. "I know we're going there, but what is so special about it?" Wade looked like he was about to answer, but Zoe cut him off. "Wait, don't tell me yet. I don't want your opinions to influence mine." She could ask him again on the way home. "When are you moving back?" she asked instead.

"As soon as I'm at the Rammer Jammer," he said. "I probably should have moved back before, but I didn't have the money."

"I get that," Zoe said. "I'm flying back to New York on Sunday. I felt like I haven't been there in forever." She had gone home for Christmas and New Year's, but she hadn't been back since.

Wade turned to look at her, taking his eyes fully off the road in a way Zoe didn't totally love. "Did you find someone to take your apartment already?"

"No, but I don't want to wait around," Zoe said. "You want to get back to BlueBell, right? I want to go home too."

Wade nodded and turned his attention back to the road. For a minute the car was silent besides a country station playing quietly on the radio. Zoe fidgeted with her seatbelt, not sure what to talk about. She had struck out by bringing up New York. If he told her all about BlueBell, he would have nothing to tell her when they were actually there. For some reason, Zoe couldn't think of anything else to say. Wade didn't seem concerned, though. He had one arm resting in the open window and was looking straight ahead. When they turned a corner he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on, which somehow made him even more attractive.

"I've never been this far out of the city," Zoe ventured. "Actually, I've never been out of the city at all." She'd never had any reason to venture outside of Mobile. When she left it was to go to New York, and the airport was right in Mobile. She was surprised by the amount of nothing out the window.

Wade shook his head. "For someone who lived in New York you're really sheltered," he said.

"I am not sheltered!" Zoe had been taking the subway by herself since she was twelve years old. She had wandered all over New York City growing up, and she had been to more than a handful of other countries on vacations. "I've been a lot of places," she said. "I just haven't had a reason to visit BlueBell, or places like BlueBell."

"Well, now's your chance," Wade said, pointing to a sign out the window. They were ten miles from BlueBell.

Shortly after the mile marker, there was a sign with what looked like an alligator on it. "That is not an alligator crossing sign," Zoe said in surprise, glancing at Wade. He just smiled, which made Zoe look nervously out the window. She knew there were alligators in the south, but they weren't exactly plentiful on her school's campus.

Zoe didn't see any alligators as they drove down the road, which helped a little bit. She wasn't wearing the right shoes to run away from alligators. "We're getting close, right?" she asked, not able to tell if they were actually coming up on the town or not.

"Keep looking," Wade said. It felt like they drove a couple more miles, but eventually Wade went around a bend and Zoe could see a new sign coming up. It read Welcome to BlueBell.


	6. Got A Little Warning

A/N: I have absolutely shattered my credibility and trustworthiness by not posting this on Wednesday like I said I would BUT to make up for it it's almost 4,000 words long. I got a little carried away. Also if it would have fit the story better this chapter would have been entirely Tom Long. Tom is my favorite and he and Wanda are the most precious things on the planet.

* * *

The Rammer Jammer was possibly exactly what Zoe had expected from BlueBell. The building itself was kind of ramshackle and the neon sign on the front was tacky, but it seemed like the kind of place that people loved. Since it was the middle of the afternoon the place was nearly dead, but Zoe could see it being a popular hangout spot. It seemed like the kind of local watering hole that had a lot of regulars, which would be good for Wade. Buying a place that was already successful was great opportunity. "I can see you at this place," Zoe said as they settled in at a table.

Wade looked around, but didn't seem to find who he was looking for. "I'd just be bartending like always," he said casually, but Zoe could see a flicker of pride in his eyes. He could play it cool, but it was obvious that he really wanted the place.

"You finally come to visit and you sit down and expect to be waited on without even saying hello?" a woman asked, walking up to their table. Zoe guessed that she was their waitress, judging by her apron and the notepad in her pocket. She checked out Zoe curiously, her eyes pausing on the chunky necklace Zoe had thrown on to distract from her plain shirt. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Zoe," Wade said. Zoe gave her a smile and the waitress returned it, though Zoe thought it looked a little forced. She tried to assure herself it was just her imagination.

Zoe thought maybe Wade would elaborate on how they had met or why she was there, but he didn't. She wanted to say something more, but the waitress had already turned away. "I'll bring you some teas," she said.

"We've been in BlueBell for two minutes and I feel like she already doesn't like me," Zoe said. Even though she'd already had lunch she grabbed a menu, just to have something to fiddle with.

"Shelly?" Wade shook his head. "She's probably just hungover."

Zoe doubted that since it was the middle of the afternoon on a Monday, but Wade knew her better than she did. Shelly brought them their teas, and Zoe almost choked when she took a sip of hers. "This is like drinking sugar," she said. She knew the south was all about their sweet tea, but she had never actually tried it before. It was a lot sweeter than she expected it to be.

Wade smirked, but he seemed distracted by something behind her. "He's here," he said, nodding toward a guy that Zoe guessed was the owner that he had a meeting with.

"I'm going to go sit at the bar," Zoe said. She didn't want to crash their business meeting, but she also didn't want to wander around town by herself. Sitting at the bar seemed like a good enough compromise. Maybe Shelly could get her a drink that wasn't filled with sugar.

As soon as she sat down Shelly was right in front of her. "So what's the deal with you and Wade?" she asked, sounding ready for a serious gossip session. "Is it serious? He's never brought one of his girlfriends home before."

Zoe held up a hand. "Whoa, slow down," she said. "I am not his girlfriend." She technically wasn't even sure if Wade liked her. "Wade and I are just friends. We met a couple weeks ago at a coffee shop."

Shelly did not look convinced. "Friends? With Wade Kinsella? I've known Wade a long time, and Wade doesn't have friends. Not girl friends, anyway," she amended. "Ask anyone in BlueBell. Wade only likes the ladies for one thing."

She sounded serious, but Zoe took her warning with a grain of salt. Wade hadn't seemed like a womanizer to her. He was attractive and charming, sure, but he just didn't strike her as the kind of sleazy guy who spent all his time picking up women. "Well, we're friends," Zoe insisted. "I don't even know him that well."

"Oh, that's obvious," Shelly said. "Wade's a good guy, but I'd watch out. Plenty of girls have gotten their hearts broken by him."

"Don't worry about adding me to that list," Zoe said. "Things with Wade and I are completely platonic."

Shelly gave her a look like Zoe was incredibly naïve, which she did not love. She didn't have a ton of dating experience, sure, but she liked to think that she could tell when a guy was just interested in her for sex. Instead of trying to defend herself further she just asked Shelly for a Diet Coke.

She hadn't even finished half her glass when Wade walked over. "Ready to go?" he asked. His meeting had barely lasted fifteen minutes, which didn't seem like a good sign to Zoe. Wade's face wasn't giving anything either way.

"Sure," Zoe said, setting a few dollars down on the bar for her soda. She kept looking at him as they walked outside, but his neutral expression didn't change. The walked away from the Rammer Jammer in silence for a minute or two, but eventually Zoe couldn't handle it anymore. "So how did it go?" she asked.

"Not bad," Wade said with a shrug.

Zoe shoved his arm. "What's 'not bad' mean? Come on, tell me. You brought me all the way out here for this meeting, so it's not like you can get away with not telling me how it went."

"He said as long as my check for the down payment clears then I can take over next week," Wade said. For the first time since they'd left the Rammer Jammer, he actually smiled. "It looks like it's all mine. I'm never going to make any money because I'm going to be paying him for it forever, but if I had to pay for it up front I could never afford it."

"Is that how buying a business works?" Zoe asked. She knew nothing about business or finances, but that seemed like a gamble at best on the part of the old owner.

"Probably not, but he just wants to retire and not worry about the place anymore. He trusts me."

Despite what Shelly had said Zoe just couldn't consolidate the Wade she knew with the womanizer Shelly had described. Zoe knew that the people a person dated didn't necessarily reflect the other areas of their life, but Wade genuinely seemed like her friend and a good guy. The guy who owned the Rammer Jammer trusted him and she did too. "That's great," she said. "Are you really set on keeping the name, though?" She knew he would never change it, but she couldn't help but tease him a little.

"You are the only one here with the dirty mind," Wade said. "To everyone in BlueBell, the Rammer Jammer is a wholesome family place. That is also a bar."

"It sounds like you've got a lot of tradition to live up to then," Zoe said. She had just been following Wade as they walked and was surprised to see that they were coming up to a huge house. "Where are we?" she asked.

"The mayor's house," Wade said. "He's got the whole plantation, so he said I could move into his gatehouse when I'm back. By the way, watch out for Burt Reynolds," he added as they walked up the path to the house.

Zoe assumed he wasn't talking about the actor. As she looked around the yard, she remembered Wade saying something about the mayor's alligator when they were at the bar. She had figured he was kidding at the time, but she sped up a little in case he wasn't. She didn't see an alligator around, but she didn't want to.

The mayor must have seen them coming, because he opened the door before Wade could knock. "You're Lavon Hayes!" Zoe blurted. She wasn't big on sports in general, but football was one she actually enjoyed watching.

"I told you he was," Wade said. Thinking back, Zoe remembered him saying something like that but hadn't put it together until she actually saw him. "Lavon, this is Zoe. She's never been to BlueBell before, so I thought I'd show her around."

"We're friends," Zoe added, before Lavon could think anything differently. "We met at a coffee shop."

"Any friend of Wade's is a friend of mine," Lavon said, thankfully not looking at Zoe like she was crazy. "How are you liking BlueBell?"

"We haven't seen much of it yet," Wade answered for her. "We're about to head into town, but I thought we'd drop by and say hi first."

Zoe kind of wanted to stay and hang out with Lavon Hayes, but she knew Wade wanted to give her the full BlueBell tour. Lavon shook his head, though. "If you're going by the Butter Stick look out for Lemon."

"What now?" Wade asked.

"Is Lemon a person, or are the lemon pastries particularly bad?" Zoe chimed in. She hoped Lemon was a person. She had never met anyone named after fruit before.

"She's a person," Lavon said. "The Belles are putting on a summer carnival to raise money and she's been going crazy all week. The Belles have been using the Butter Stick as their command center."

Wade nodded knowingly, like that wasn't an uncommon occurrence. "I'll be sure to be extra nice," he said. "Don't worry about us, Lavon. We'll be just fine."

Lavon looked skeptical. "Why are you always picking on Lemon?"

"What are you talking about? Lemon and I are great," Wade said innocently. Zoe wanted to know the backstory there.

They chatted with Lavon for a few more minutes before they left and started the walk into town. "Who's Lemon?" Zoe asked.

"We went to high school together," Wade said. Zoe wondered if everyone that went to high school in BlueBell stayed friends with their classmates. Zoe couldn't think of a single person from high school she still talked to aside from the odd comment on Facebook. All the people she was currently close with had been her friends at NYU. New York City was great, but it had a very transient nature. The people she had known in high school had graduated, gone off to the Ivy League school of their choice and then dispersed around the country.

"That high school?" Zoe asked as they approached a moderately sized school. Classes must have just let out, because there were groups of teenagers hanging out on the lawn. One boy must have recognized Wade, because he practically ran up to them.

"Wade, you're back!" he said excitedly. Zoe was starting to get the impression that Wade was some sort of hometown hero. He was friends with the mayor, and now it looked like he had a fan club. "And you brought a friend," he added, looking at Zoe. She instantly recognized the dreamy look on his face.

"Zoe's too old for you, Tom," Wade said, clapping him on the back. "She's not looking for a boyfriend who's still in high school."

Tom frowned, but he still looked a little hopeful. "Graduation is in two weeks," he said, sounding optimistic.

Wade shook his head. "What about Wanda?" he suggested, gesturing toward a cute redhead sitting on the steps of the school. "She's cute. And your age."

"Wanda has a boyfriend," Tom said sadly. "He's joining the army. I can't compete with some army guy." Wanda noticed them looking at her and waved. Tom waved back, but his attention was still on Wade. "So, are you moving back?"

"Soon," Wade said. "Can you keep a secret?"

"I will swear on anything you want me to," Tom said. Zoe liked his energy. He kind of reminded her of the dachshund her neighbors in New York had. Eager to please, and pretty adorable too.

"Good to know," Wade said. He patted him on the shoulder. "I'm just here for today, but I'll be back soon. Now if you'll excuse us, I've got a lot more of BlueBell to show Zoe."

Tom looked disappointed, but he didn't pester Wade to tell him what the secret was. He said goodbye to them and they were on their way, presumably headed toward the heart of BlueBell. "This place is like Stars Hollow," Zoe said as they walked into the town square. There were little shops all along the road, and there was even a gazebo.

"What's Stars Hollow?" Wade asked.

Zoe looked at him in surprise. "Stars Hollow, from Gilmore Girls. The TV show?" she added when Wade just looked at her blankly. "You're kidding me. All of my friends were obsessed with it in middle school." It occurred to Zoe that the show had premiered fifteen years earlier, so it wasn't really that surprising that Wade had never seen it. She couldn't picture ten year old Wade sitting down to watch Gilmore Girls. "Well, it's a show that takes place in a little town a lot like this. It had a gazebo, too."

"Well, if it had a gazebo it must have been good," Wade said. "Did it have a Dixie Stop?"

Zoe checked out the little store across the street. "No, but it had a little store kind of like a Dixie Stop," she said. "Stars Hollow was in Connecticut. Not a lot of Dixie up there."

"It probably didn't have a bakery as good as the Butter Stick," Wade said, steering her into a little shop that smelled overwhelmingly like coffee and sugar. Zoe had to stop herself from drooling. Everything on display looked amazing, and the coffee smelled like it would be strong.

"Probably not," Zoe agreed. She liked the Butter Stick already. As she stood in line to order a cappuccino, she realized that she actually liked all of BlueBell so far. If she had come to BlueBell straight from New York she probably would have hated it. She'd hated Mobile when she first got there. After a while though, she'd gotten used to being in Alabama, and she appreciated how BlueBell took that whole southern charm thing up to eleven.

Until she met Lemon Breeland. Zoe had just gotten her cappuccino and was about to find a table for her and Wade when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "I don't believe we've met," the woman said. Her voice was all sugary sweetness, but she eyed Zoe's outfit critically. "Are you new to town?"

"In the sense that I've never been here before," Zoe said, taking in the other woman's colorful sundress and pearl necklace. The women sitting at the table behind her were all dressed similarly, which made Zoe feel like the lone goth kid among a group of preppy cheerleaders. "I'm just visiting."

Zoe swore she could see relief on the blonde's face. "Who do you know here?" she asked. If she was part of the BlueBell welcoming committee, she really needed to work on her slightly accusatory tone. She might as well have just whipped out a marker and written "outsider" on Zoe's forehead; it was obvious that was how she felt.

Luckily Wade swooped in and saved her. "Zoe's with me," he said, draping an arm over the woman's shoulder. "Zoe, this is Lemon Breeland. She's Alabama's favorite Belle."

"Don't let the other girls hear you saying that," Lemon said, blushing slightly. "So, how do you know Zoe?" She was smiling at Wade, but Zoe knew she didn't approve of her. Which she thought was a little ridiculous, since they had just met and she had no reason to dislike Zoe on sight.

"We just met a couple of week ago," Wade said. "She's never been to BlueBell and I thought she'd like to check it out. I had some business to take care of over at the Rammer Jammer so she tagged along."

"You invited me," Zoe corrected him. "I'm not some poor lonely stalker or anything." Okay, so if Wade hadn't invited her to BlueBell she would have been sitting in her apartment alone. But that didn't make her sad and lonely.

"I just thought you'd want something to remember Alabama by when you're in New York," he said.

That got Lemon's interest but not in a good way. Her plastered on smile turned stony. "You're going to New York?" she asked. "That must be exciting."

It was actually kind of impressive how everything Lemon said sounded slightly condescending. "I'm going home for the summer," Zoe said. "I'm from New York."

"I should've guessed, with that outfit. New Yorkers do like their black, don't they?"

Zoe wanted to make some sort of crack about Laura Ashley stores not being allowed within city limits, but she couldn't pull off the fake nice thing as well as Lemon could. "Lavon told me you're planning a carnival," Zoe said instead. "That sounds like fun."

"Yes, it's in two weeks," Lemon said. "It's a shame you won't be here. Although if you're used to New York, our little carnival probably wouldn't be of much interest to you."

Talking with Lemon was exhausting. Zoe could think of a response to every jab Lemon threw at her—for instance, there were street fairs in New York all the time during the summer—but it just didn't seem worth the effort to actually vocalize them. "I'm sorry I'll have to miss it," Zoe said, mustering up a disappointed face. "You know, I think my cappuccino is getting cold. I should probably go drink it."

Lemon gave her a simpering smile. "Good idea," she said. "I have to get back to my planning, anyway. Enjoy your coffee."

As soon as Zoe thought Lemon was out of earshot, she turned to Wade. "What the hell is her problem?" she asked. "Did you forget to tell me BlueBell has a mandatory dress code or something?"

"That's just Lemon," Wade said, not sounding concerned. "She's kind of wound up."

Wade knew Lemon better than she did, but Zoe was not convinced that a human could act like that all the time. "Come on, did you see how she looked at me when I said I was from New York? It was like I said I was from Compton or something."

He shrugged, but then he snapped his fingers. "Her boyfriend just moved to New York a couple of weeks ago to work for a law firm," Wade said. "I don't think she's thrilled about it."

Zoe remembered how she spent the weeks snapping at everyone around her after she and her boyfriend broke up. She could sympathize with Lemon, but that didn't mean she liked her. Seriously, she was probably never even going to see Lemon again. She couldn't have spent five minutes actually being friendly to Zoe? "Well, I wouldn't pick her to be BlueBell's spokesperson anytime soon," Zoe said. "Can we go back to Lavon's? He was actually nice to me. Or we could go find Tom again. Tom liked me."

"Tom Long is eighteen years old," Wade said. "He likes every girl that gives him attention. We can go back to Lavon's, though. Hey, you could help me clean up the gatehouse so I don't have to do it when I move."

"Not a chance," Zoe replied. She was not a particularly neat person. Half of her closet was usually tossed over a chair in her bedroom. "You know, I actually do kind of like it here," she said as they left the Butter Stick. "Despite Lemon being, well, Lemon."

"I knew you'd like it here," Wade said. "There's more to Alabama than just Mobile."

"And there's more to the country than just Alabama," Zoe countered. "You should check out New York someday. I'm pretty sure you'd hate it, but I tried something different and that worked out okay." Would she move back to New York for good after she graduated? Probably. But she would always remember Alabama with a certain fondness. She didn't love it there, but it was good in its own way.

Wade smirked. "Yeah, that'll happen," he said. "At least people here are nice. You think anyone would be nice to me in New York?"

Zoe wanted to insist that they would, but that was probably idealizing the people there. "I would show you around," she said. "Trust me, I'm an expert. I bet you'd like the bagels there. Everyone loves New York bagels."

"You can just bring me back one from your trip," Wade suggested.

"That's not the same as actually going to New York, you know," Zoe said. "And there are all kinds of people in New York. I bet at least six of them would be nice to you."

"Six out of millions?"

Zoe shrugged. "Hey, that's a pretty good amount for a stranger in New York who only ever wears flannel," she said. "You'd probably fit right in in Seattle, though. I've read that the whole lumberjack look is very in there."

"This coming from the girl whose pockets are almost longer than her shorts?" Wade said.

"Hey, these are my favorite shorts," Zoe said. As they turned to go up Lavon's driveway, she thought she saw something moving in the grass a few yards away. "Please tell me that is not Burt Reynolds," she whispered, pointing at the grass. "These might be my favorite shorts, but I don't want to die in them."

Wade looked over to where she was pointing. "Yup, that's Burt," he said. Seeing Zoe's slightly panicked look, he tried to reassure her. "He's never bothered anybody before. And hey, now you've seen an alligator in person."

"I'll be sure to check that off my bucket list," Zoe said, walking past the alligator as quickly as possible. He didn't even look at them.

Lavon looked pleased to see them when he answered the door. "You survived your first trip to BlueBell," he noted, waving them inside. "Think you'll come back?"

"I'm going to be in New York for the summer, but I think I could be up for a visit when I get back," Zoe said.

"As mayor of BlueBell, you're always welcome here," Lavon said. After he turned to walk into the kitchen, Zoe smiled. She could definitely do with having a Lavon Hayes in her life. It almost made her sad that she had visited BlueBell right before she was about to leave for three months. Hopefully he wouldn't forget about her while she was in New York. Hopefully Wade wouldn't forget about her, either.


	7. Going On Nine O'Clock

Zoe wasn't a nervous flyer, but she spent her flight from Mobile Regional Airport to JFK feeling slightly anxious. It had been almost six months since she had been home, and she always felt like everything would change while she was gone. She was excited to be going back to the city, but every few minutes a new thought popped into her head. What if her favorite coffee shop down the street from her mom's apartment wasn't there anymore? What if the bars she and her friends had gone to over the holidays were no longer the good places to go? What if bagels tasted different after having to settle for English muffins for months?

And then there was Wade. Since their trip to BlueBell she and Wade had texted a bit, but they hadn't seen each other since Monday. They'd both been busy planning—Wade, for his move to BlueBell and Zoe, for catching up with her friends. Adding in Wade's job, he had a lot less time to talk than Zoe did. Still, he always answered Zoe's texts. It could be hours later, but Zoe learned very early on that she could count on Wade to respond. She'd even woken up that morning to a text from him sent at 3 a.m. wishing her good luck on her flight. Zoe was pretty sure she was still smiling when she got on the plane.

After she exhausted her magazine stash half an hour into the flight, all she could think about was texting Wade. She wanted to tell him to download Snapchat so she could send him pictures of things around New York, but she wasn't sure if that was taking things too far. Zoe Snapchatted her other friends all the time, but she didn't want to look like she was coming on too strong. There was also the slightest bit of concern that he already had Snapchat and was the type to post stories of him on dates with beautiful girls. Zoe really didn't want to see that.

She thought about distracting herself by talking to the person in the seat next to her, but he was listening to something on Beats headphones and smelled like he had bathed in Axe body spray. He had barely glanced at Zoe when she sat next to him and hadn't looked her way since. Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep, waking up every few minutes convinced that the plane had landed. Once they finally touched down in New York she felt slightly uneasy, like she had a hangover from napping. She was also disheartened by the fact that her mom wasn't at the airport to pick her up. Zoe had told her what time her flight got in, but her mom had said she might be working. Working on a Sunday was typical in the Hart family, but Zoe still wished someone had been there to greet her.

The first thing she noticed when she stepped outside the airport was how little humidity there was. The second thing she noticed was that it felt like she was breathing in more car exhaust than air. Zoe knew on a logical level that New York probably had a high rate of air pollution, but she'd never actually noticed it before. In the winter it hadn't felt as bad, but now it made her feel like she was covered in a thin layer of dirt and sweat. _I just feel gross from the plane,_ Zoe told herself. She was glad to be back in the city. It was a good thing.

It took her nearly twenty minutes to hail an empty cab, which seemed like a lot more time than usual. She was off her game, living in a place where she walked or took the bus everywhere. She couldn't wait to ditch her luggage at her mom's so she could take the subway if she needed to get somewhere. It was so much more efficient.

And cheaper, too. After Zoe stashed her stuff in her mom's (empty) apartment she walked to the coffee shop down the block. She had always appreciated that it wasn't a boring chain like Starbucks, but she didn't appreciate how much more expensive coffee was in New York. It hadn't taken long at all to get used to the lower cost of living in Mobile and paying close to six dollars for a moderately sized iced caramel latte stung a little bit.

Something about her coffee tasted a little bit off, too. It tasted like caramel, but it seemed completely devoid of sweetness. She added a packet of brown sugar to it, trying to make it taste more like the coffee from her usual place in Mobile. "I think Alabama ruined my taste buds," Zoe texted to Wade. "They put too much sugar in the coffee there."

Even though it was early afternoon and Wade was usually sleeping then, he texted her back right away. Zoe wondered if he had been waiting for her to text him since she'd never texted him back that morning, but it was more likely a coincidence. "That's what happens when you order whipped cream caramel whatevers."

Zoe had only ordered that once with him around, but he still remembered. "The coffee I have now doesn't have whipped cream," Zoe typed back with a smile. Maybe it would have been better if it did. She was slightly ashamed to admit that she had grown to like the iced coffee in Mobile better.

"How's the city?" Wade texted her a few minutes later. He always texted her back, but he wasn't great at sticking to one topic of conversation. He was almost businesslike in that sense. He had said his piece about coffee so now it was time for a new topic.

"It's the same as always," Zoe answered. Even with new things coming and going all the time, the general feeling of New York was always the same. Her favorite pizza place could move or 90 percent of the video rental stores could go out of business, but in the grand scheme of things nothing would really feel different. "I've only been here for an hour."

"How was the flight?"

"I was stuck next to a guy who smelled like an Abercrombie. And I didn't get any peanuts. How's Alabama?"

"I started moving my stuff out to the plantation," Wade said. "Burt Reynolds says hi."

"He did not," Zoe typed, laughing.

"Lavon says hi, then."

"Hi back."

Zoe finished her coffee and walked home while she waited for Wade to text her back. She liked the idea what Lavon had told Wade to say hi to her, even though realistically he probably hadn't. Wade had probably just said it to be nice. She wasn't going to argue with him being nice, though. Zoe checked her phone again once she got inside and was glad to see that Wade had continued the conversation. "You have big New York plans for tonight?"

Her first instinct was to say no, because she was used to never having plans, but for once she wasn't going to be sitting at home alone. "Dinner with my mom," she said. Her mom had made reservations somewhere, although reservations with her mom went one of two ways—she got home from work too late and missed them, or she made them for 9 p.m. so she could be sure to make it. Zoe preferred the latter, even though it meant not eating until after 10. Things with her mom were not always ideal, but Zoe had learned to deal. "Should I tell her hi for you?"

"If you want, weirdo." Zoe could almost picture him texting her,

It was that moment when Zoe realized she was screwed, because she liked Wade. She really liked Wade. Yes, before she had thought Wade was attractive and nice, but something about those four little words had shifted something inside her. He had called her a weirdo and yet she had a huge smile on her face. She tried to think of something to say back, but nothing felt right. She had a crush on Wade Kinsella, and she had no idea what to do about it. And now she had all summer in New York to figure it out.


	8. Feels More Like Midnight

A/N: Not much to say other than Zoe and Wade are super important always.

* * *

In an episode of Pretty Little Liars that Zoe had watched completely by accident, one of the characters said that hope breeds eternal misery. At the time Zoe had rolled her eyes. What did that high school girl know about anything? But after a week in New York, she felt a sort of kinship with the character. Hope did breed misery. Getting your hopes up for anything was pointless.

For all the planning she and her friends had done on Facebook, Zoe had spent Monday through Thursday almost completely on her own. All of her friends in New York had to work during the week, though she did manage to meet up with Gigi once on her lunch break. Zoe had spent the extra time doing everything in her power to secure an internship at the hospital. The first thing she did Monday was go down to the hospital to talk to anyone who would listen to her, which didn't go well. Apparently even though her father had worked there they didn't accept last-minute interns. Their intern program was completely full and had been for months.

So things hadn't gotten off to a good start. Zoe spent most of the week watching Pretty Little Liars on Netflix (it was surprisingly enticing). She was also completely glued to her cell phone, waiting for the moments when Wade would text her. The texts were always friendly, but Zoe couldn't tell if they were on the flirty side of friendly or not. Normally she would ask Gigi for her opinion, but it seemed like every time she tried to text Gigi she was in a meeting or headed to a meeting. It reminded Zoe of the summers in elementary school when all her friends went off to different camps and she stayed at home. She had hated the feeling of waiting for her friends to come home then and the feeling wasn't much better now.

Luckily, Zoe had plans on Friday night. She and Gigi were going to their friend's engagement party. Christina had lived on their dorm floor freshman year and they had all remained friends, although Gigi was a lot closer with her than Zoe was. Zoe had never met Christina's fiancé, but from what she could glean from Facebook he was an investment banker and had been in a fraternity in college. When he wasn't wearing a suit he was wearing khakis, at least in the pictures Zoe had seen. He was attractive in the way that tall men with dark hair were usually attractive. Zoe thought he seemed kind of boring, but Christina was happy.

"Christina is so lucky," Gigi said in the cab on the way to the party. She was using the camera on her phone to touch up her lipstick, which was a vampy shade of red. Zoe thought it seemed out of place for summer, but she probably wasn't as up on the fashion trends as she should have been. "Do you know how hard it is to find a guy like Eric? They're all so afraid of commitment.."

"What about the last guy you dated?" Zoe asked. "I thought you said he was crazy about you." It seemed slightly absurd for Gigi to complain about having trouble finding a guy because she hadn't been single for more than a month since college.

Gigi waved her away, like thinking about her ex was simply exhausting. "He ended up just being crazy," she said. "Just like every other guy in the city."

"You'll find someone," Zoe assured her. Tall, beautiful blondes never had trouble finding guys.

Gigi patted Zoe's shoulder. "And so will you," she said sympathetically.

"Thanks," Zoe said, deciding it was easier to just accept her friend's misplaced sympathy than explain that she was already interested in someone. Gigi had always been the type of person to project her feelings on other people. It used to drive Zoe crazy, but she had gotten used to it. She knew Gigi was just trying to be a good friend.

Gigi had a lot of good friends besides Zoe, though. When they got to Christina's party Gigi immediately jumped into the fray, talking with everybody. Zoe recognized some people, but she and Christina didn't have a lot of friends in common. Even the people she did recognize seemed different. Seeing everyone dressed up and holding champagne flutes made her feel like a little kid that tagged along with her parents. Zoe knew that going to medical school wasn't the same as slogging through undergrad, but she still felt like an out of place college kid in her mom's cocktail dress.

Zoe was relieved when they finally caught up with Christina. She had been keeping herself occupied by accepting glasses of champagne from the waiters walking around and she was starting to feel tipsy. "Congratulations!" Zoe said, hugging Christina. She took an appropriate amount of time to fawn of Christina's engagement ring and ask the appropriate questions, even though as far as Zoe could tell the ring was a fairly standard Tiffany diamond. "It's really beautiful," she said, because that's what people are required to say about engagement rings. "Eric has great taste."

"Eric has the ability to pick up on very heavy-handed hints," Christina corrected her with a laugh. "I only left a picture of it around the apartment for two months before he actually proposed."

"She literally had it taped to the fridge door for a while," Gigi added. Zoe gave a small laugh and quickly took a sip of champagne before she could make a face. She had always like Christina, but that seemed so over the top and just not at all romantic.

"Well, he was taking too long!" Christina said. She twisted the ring around her finger, looking at Zoe's bare hand while she did. Zoe pretended not to notice, but Christina carried on. "So, anyone on the horizon for you, Zoe? You hardly update your Facebook anymore; I never know what you're up to these days."

"School's been keeping me busy," Zoe said easily, wishing she hadn't finished her champagne. "I just had finals a couple of weeks ago, so I've mostly just been studying."

Christina's smile flickered slightly. Zoe wasn't sure exactly what she had expected. She knew Zoe was in the middle of medical school, which didn't leave a lot of room for a thriving social life. Gigi had her back, though. Or at least she thought she did. "Since when are you so demure?" she asked Zoe, giving her a little wink. "Zoe has totally been slumming it with a bartender for like a month."

Zoe's hand tightened around her empty glass. Did Gigi not realize that she was being incredibly insulting? She didn't even know Wade. "He _owns _a bar," Zoe corrected her, trying to keep her tone even. "And we're just friends."

"Oh, of course," Gigi said, but she gave Zoe a conspiratorial look as if Zoe was lying. "Come on, Zoe. You can admit it. We all make dating mistakes. Remember when I dated that guy who had a Chihuahua that he called his baby?"

"He is not a dating mistake, because I'm not dating him," Zoe said. Even so, she was upset. Gigi didn't even know Wade. How could she call him a mistake? Zoe and Gigi had initially bonded because they were so similar, but now Zoe felt like she didn't even know Gigi at all. Zoe hoped she hadn't acted like that before she moved to New York. It struck her as incredibly judgmental and shallow. "And even if I was, you don't even know him to judge him like that."

Gigi handed Zoe a fresh glass of champagne. "Calm down, Zo. I heard you when you said you aren't dating him. I was just kidding. I know you'd never seriously date a guy like that."

Zoe ignored her offer. "A guy like what?" she asked.

Gigi gave Christina a slightly exasperated look, like Zoe was completely out of line. "Someone so blue collar," she said as if it was obvious. "Come on, Zoe. In another year you're going to be back up here being a big shot surgeon. Why lower your standards when you're not even going to be in Alabama that much longer?"

Zoe counted to ten in her head, trying to calm down before she formulated a response. In the end, she couldn't come up with anything that sounded polite enough. "Congratulations again, Christina," Zoe said, giving her a quick hug. To Gigi, she said nothing. She just turned and headed toward the exit. As she walked away, she could hear Gigi whispering something to Christina. Zoe had a feeling it wasn't about how bad she felt about insulting Zoe's friend.

She hadn't planned on it, but Zoe called Wade in the cab on the way home. She had never called Wade before, but she wanted to hear a friendly voice. Her mom was out with friends, so Zoe would be getting back to an empty apartment. She hadn't actually expected Wade to answer, but he did. "Doc?"

"You sound confused," Zoe said, wondering if she shouldn't have called. Maybe Wade was one of those people who didn't like talking on the phone.

"I just thought maybe you butt dialed me or something," Wade said. "I figured you'd be out with your friends or something."

Zoe sighed. "I was," she said. "My friend and I went to another friend's engagement party but my friend ended up being kind of…"

"Drunk?" Wade suggested.

"A bitch." She hoped Wade wouldn't ask her to elaborate, and he didn't. After a few seconds of silence, Zoe asked him something. "When you moved back to BlueBell did things feel different?"

"Not really," Wade said. "But BlueBell doesn't do a lot of changing. The entire town is built on traditions that are a million years old. Is New York different?"

Zoe looked out the window, studying the New York street. They were coming up to her mom's apartment, passing the same buildings she had seen for years. Everything looked just as it always had. "No," Zoe said, feeling a wave of sadness wash over her. "But I think I am."


	9. Turned Up The Radio

A/N: Several reviews have asked for Wade's POV so bam, a Wade chapter for you beautiful people. Is it weird to have a Wade chapter after eight chapters about Zoe? Who knows. I don't know how proper writing works.

* * *

Normally Wade wasn't at The Rammer Jammer on weekday afternoons. The place was so dead after the lunch rush that there was no reason for him to be there. Shelly had no problem handling the handful of customers that they got on her own. Shelly called in sick on Wednesday, though. Wade was pretty sure sick was just code for hungover, but it wasn't like he could demand that she come to work. He couldn't even blame her for calling in sick. Being at The Rammer Jammer in the afternoon was boring.

Since he couldn't sit at home and play Xbox, Wade tried to occupy himself by wiping down all the bar glasses. They were already clean, but it was a way to pretend he was doing something useful. After every couple of glasses he checked his phone out of habit. He told himself that he was just checking the time, but it wasn't like he could effectively lie to himself. He was waiting for a text from Zoe.

He and Zoe had texted fairly regularly since their visit to BlueBell. He was surprised that she continued to text him even when she was in New York. He'd figured Zoe would be too busy to talk to him. He had been pretty good friends with Lemon's boyfriend George but they'd barely talked at all since he had moved to New York. Wade had never been to New York, but it seemed like the big city would keep people busy.

Wade wouldn't actually admit it to anybody, but he was glad Zoe didn't seem too busy to talk to him. He'd told himself that he wouldn't care if Zoe went off to New York and didn't have the time for him anymore, but that wasn't true at all. He didn't know Zoe particularly well and suspected she could probably very annoying given enough time with her, but he liked her anyway. She was different from most of the girls he knew. It had never been hard to find someone to hang out with (or hook up with) working at the bar in Mobile, but Zoe was nothing like those girls. She was intelligent and motivated and very independent, which were not usually characteristics that Wade went for.

He didn't want to miss her, but he did. She had only been gone for a week and a half and he had spent most of it moving back to BlueBell, but he always felt aware of the fact that she wasn't there. Wade knew it was stupid. They had only seen each other a couple of times. But she had gotten in his head.

Wade didn't know exactly how he felt about her. He'd never had a serious girlfriend before, so he wasn't sure how those romantic feelings were supposed to work. He had almost married a girl named Tanzy once, but they'd sobered up just in time to realize that was a really stupid idea. Even then, he hadn't been in love with Tanzy or anything. They'd just been drunk and stupid. But Wade was sober now, and Zoe was still on his mind all the time. He was pretty sure it wasn't even about sex either. He obviously wouldn't turn Zoe down if she was interested, but he didn't want to sleep with her and then move on. He wanted her around.

"Stupid Zoe," Wade muttered to himself, wiping a fingerprint off a glass. He didn't have a particular reason to be annoyed with her, but it somehow made him feel better. It figured that as soon as he found a girl he might actually be interested in she picked up and left. "What's so great about New York anyway?" he wondered. "Who wants to live in a place with millions of other people?"

"Are you talking to yourself?"

Wade hadn't even heard the door opened, he'd been so involved in his own thoughts. When he looked up he almost dropped the glass he was holding. "What happened to your amazing New York vacation?" he asked Zoe. For a second he thought maybe the heat was getting to him, because it didn't make any sense that she would be at The Rammer Jammer when she was supposed to be in New York. But as she took a seat across the bar from him he concluded that yes, she really was there.

Her hair was shorter and lighter, but Wade was glad to see that he hadn't been building up Zoe's looks in his mind while she was gone. She looked just how he remembered. "It wasn't that amazing," Zoe said with a shrug. "I don't really fit in with my friends there anymore and my mom is always busy with work so I figured I might as well go back to Mobile. But then I got home and realized I don't really know anyone in Mobile, so I thought I would come see a friend."

"How did you know I'd be at The Rammer Jammer?"

"I didn't," Zoe said. "But I figured it couldn't hurt to check. Can I have a Diet Coke?"

Wade poured her soda, wondering if he should ask her more about her trip. She had alluded to feeling out of place and having problems with her friends, but he didn't know if she actually wanted to talk about it. And even if she did, what was he going to say? He didn't know anything about her friends or her life in New York. "So what are you going to do for the rest of the summer?" he asked instead. That was more familiar territory.

"Get a job, I guess," Zoe said, not sounding happy about the prospect. "It was probably stupid, but I really thought I could at least get an internship in New York. But that didn't happen. Maybe I'll just take your old job at that bar."

"Or you could work here," Wade suggested. The Rammer Jammer didn't exactly need any more employees, but the words were out of his mouth before he could really think them through. What was one extra employee, though? It was summer. Business would probably pick up for the next few months.

Zoe looked skeptical. "Doing what exactly?" she asked, looking around the empty dining room. "Dusting all the empty chairs?"

"Waitressing," Wade said. "You know, giving people food and drinks. The afternoons are slow, but there's always the dinner shift."

"I've never been a waitress," Zoe said uncertainly. "And the bus ride here from Mobile took almost 40 minutes. I don't know about doing that twice a day. I should probably look for something closer to home."

Wade had an idea that he knew was completely ridiculous, but he felt like he had to throw it out there anyway. "Move here," he said. "Find someone to lease your apartment and move into the carriage house on the plantation. Lavon won't care." Offering up someone else's house was a bold move, but he had let Wade move into the gatehouse free of charge so he couldn't imagine him turning Zoe down.

Zoe laughed. "Move to BlueBell. What am I going to do when school starts again?"

He hadn't thought about that. "Move back, or stay here. It's really not that far from Mobile." Maybe he could let her borrow his truck sometimes if she didn't want to take the bus. He could just walk to The Rammer Jammer, or borrow one of Lavon's cars. "I could go with you to talk to Lavon right now."

"Why are you doing this for me?" Zoe asked. She sounded like she thought the whole thing was funny, and Wade hoped she didn't think he was joking.

He didn't know why he was doing it, really. He just knew that Zoe walking into The Rammer Jammer months early had been the best thing to happen to him in months. "You were originally going to spend the summer away from Mobile," Wade said. "Why not do it anyway?"

Zoe looked hesitant. Wade knew he had suggested a lot, but he wanted Zoe to say yes. When he had told Zoe that BlueBell didn't feel different he hadn't told her the whole truth. BlueBell was the same, but he did feel a little different being back there. He had visited when he could, but it wasn't the same as being there all the time. Couples broke up, people got new jobs, everyone's lives moved forward. They welcomed Wade back like he had never left, but he still felt like he had missed out while he was in Mobile. Zoe felt like a bridge between the two places. If he could have part of his life in Mobile in BlueBell then maybe things would feel right again. "Come on, Doc," he said, trying to convince her. "It'll be fun."

"I wouldn't call moving 'fun'," Zoe said. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to Lavon."

"I knew you'd say yes," Wade said, tossing down his dishrag. He flipped over the "open" sign on the door, figuring if anyone showed up they could just wait until he got back. Getting Zoe to stay in BlueBell was more important.

"I didn't say yes," Zoe corrected Wade as they walked to his truck. "I just said we could talk to Lavon."

"Lavon's not going to say no," Wade said. "Which means you probably won't say no either."

Zoe rolled her eyes, hopefully good-naturedly. "You're very sure of yourself, Wade Kinsella."

He hadn't really thought about it like that before, but he was pretty sure of himself. He had always known what he wanted and though he was hardly a go-getter like Zoe, he did try to get to where he wanted to be eventually. Since buying The Rammer Jammer, he'd felt like his goals were getting more attainable. If he could have his own bar then he could probably do a lot of other things, too.

Thankfully Lavon was home when they got to the plantation. Wade had just kind of assumed he would be. "Big Z!" he announced when he opened the door. "Wade said you went to New York. What brings you back to BlueBell?"

Wade jumped in before Zoe could say anything. "The doc's moving in."


	10. Ain't Been Two Miles Down The Road

A/N: I can't believe I made it to chapter 10! Seriously, it's all because of you guys. I just intended for this to be a one-shot, but everyone has been so sweet and encouraging in their reviews. So chapter 10 is dedicated to everyone who has left a review wanting more. There will definitely be more to come!

* * *

"I'm sorry, you moved where?"

"BlueBell, Mom," Zoe said. Her phone was clamped between her ear and shoulder as she heaved a box of clothes onto her new bed. "It's not that far from Mobile."

"I've never heard of it."

That was not at all surprising since Zoe hadn't heard of BlueBell herself until a few weeks ago. "Well, it's definitely a real place. It's pretty cute here." Although the carriage house could definitely use some work. It was beyond generous of Lavon to offer her a free place to stay, but it looked like the place hadn't been redecorated in a couple of decades. Replacing everything possible with her own things was her first plan of action, if her mom ever let her off the phone. She had figured it would be polite to let her mom know that she had moved, but Candice Hart had no problem letting her daughter know how she felt about the whole thing.

"Are you having some sort of crisis?" she asked Zoe. "Oh my god, you didn't fail out of school, did you?"

"It's summer, Mom. I don't have school right now. But no, I didn't fail out," Zoe said. If she had failed out of school she would already be hiding out in Italy somewhere, drowning her sorrows in espresso and biscotti. "I have a friend who bought a restaurant here and he offered me a job and a place to stay."

Candice made a noise that Zoe thought was unnecessarily dismissive. "Is that why you left New York? To work in a restaurant?"

Zoe could tell her mom didn't understand her decision at all. She considered telling her mom that she had left New York before she had lined up a job at the Rammer Jammer but assumed that would just prolong the conversation. "It seemed better than doing nothing in New York all summer," Zoe said. "I'll save up money this way. I found someone to finish out my least at the apartment in Mobile and I'm not paying rent here."

Giving her mom more details was a mistake. "Where are you staying that you're not paying rent? Are you staying with your friend that you never mentioned to me?"

It was funny how Zoe's mom never seemed interested when Zoe was actually trying to tell her about her life but was all over her when Zoe didn't tell her something. "No, actually. I'm staying in the mayor's carriage house."

Candice sighed. "Are you out of money? If this is about money—"

"It's not about money," Zoe said, although it was true she didn't have a lot of it. "It just seemed like a change of pace. I lived in Mobile for three years and it was fine, but I like BlueBell too. It's interesting, and the people here are nice." Zoe looked at the pies sitting on top of her dresser. Two different neighbors had brought them over when they saw that she was moving in. Zoe didn't even know where they got pies on such short notice, but it was sweet.

"Well, if you're sure…" her mom said uncertainly.

"Yes, I am," Zoe said. Her mom's dramatics could get tiring really quickly. "I should really go, Mom. I have a lot of unpacking to do." And cleaning, she realized. She had opened the closet to find empty, if you didn't count a million dust bunnies and cobwebs.

Candice agreed and hung up, although she still sounded unhappy. She hadn't understood Zoe's decision to go to school in Mobile in the first place, no matter how many times Zoe had pointed out that a full scholarship to a school in Alabama was much better than a partial scholarship to a school in the Northeast. To Candice, the places outside of New York simply didn't matter. Zoe had felt the same way at first, but after being in Alabama for a while she realized that was a pretty shallow view to have. There was nothing inherently wrong about the South, although people seemed to mention Jesus a lot more than they did up north. Zoe would probably never feel like a southern girl, but she could enjoy her time there.

Zoe was struggling to get a box of dishes on the shelf in the closet when she heard someone knock at her open bedroom door. "Need some help, neighbor?" Wade said, taking the box from her. He made putting it away look easy.

"Thanks," Zoe said, suddenly very aware that she was all sweaty and gross. "I didn't realize the carriage house didn't have a kitchen." There was a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom, but no kitchen. Lavon said she was welcome to the kitchen in the main house whenever she wanted, but she was definitely going to have to get herself a mini fridge. She wasn't about to walk across the alligator infested yard in the middle of the night if she wanted a glass of water.

"There's no kitchen in the gatehouse either," Wade said. "I think Lavon's actually excited about having people around to eat breakfast with though. He's told me three times today that he'll make pancakes in the morning."

That sounded nice. Zoe could handle not having a kitchen if it meant having pancakes with Lavon. And she had her cappuccino machine with her which was really all that mattered. "I like pancakes," Zoe said, pushing another box of kitchen things in the closet. It stirred up a dust cloud, which made her sneeze. "When was the last time someone stayed here?" she asked.

"Probably around the same time someone stayed in the gatehouse," Wade said. "I found a bird nest in my bathroom."

Zoe wrinkled her nose. She hoped she didn't find any signs of wild life in the carriage house. She made a mental note to avoid the attic at all costs in case there were creatures living up there. "At least I have all the stuff from my apartment," Zoe said, looking around the little house. There wasn't much she could do about the outdated furniture since she had rented her apartment furnished and didn't have any furniture of her own, but at least she had cute decorations she could put up. Her bedroom especially would look much better when she swapped out the flowery granny comforter for her own. "I can totally turn this place around by tomorrow."

"Don't forget your first day at the Rammer Jammer is tomorrow," Wade said, sitting down on Zoe's bed and stretching out. Zoe didn't even want to think about how dusty the blankets on the bed probably were. "Shelly's going to give you a crash course in waitressing."

Zoe had tried to conveniently forget that she was going to be a waitress. Being a surgeon didn't worry Zoe in the slightest, but the idea of having to take people's orders and serve them properly scared the crap out of her. She had seen waitresses balancing huge trays of food and drinks and was pretty sure she would never be able to do that. She wasn't clumsy and she had steady hands, but making incisions or stitching people up was not the same as carrying a big tray of drinks. She had a mental image of herself trying to deliver drinks and dropping them everywhere. "Crash sound about right," Zoe said.

"You'll do fine," Wade said. "It's not like it's a five star place or something. If you get people the food they ordered, they'll give you money."

Wade made it sound easy. "Why don't you wait on people and I'll be the bartender?" Zoe suggested. She knew absolutely nothing about bartending, but making drinks seemed a lot less stressful than waiting on tables.

He snorted. "Sure. How many times have you bartended before?"

"None, but I'm sure I could figure out how to pour a beer," Zoe said.

"It's a lot more than pouring beers," Wade said. "What do you know about making mixed drinks?"

Mixed drinks tended to give Zoe headaches. She was more of a wine girl. "I could look up recipes, no problem."

"Let's stick with waitressing," Wade said. Zoe pouted, and he laughed. "Hey, you want a job, right? You didn't even have to interview for this one."

That was true. Zoe couldn't complain about being handed a job, especially when she had absolutely no experience. "Yes, I want a job," Zoe said. "I just thought I could be working in a hospital this summer. Hey, is there a clinic here? Maybe I could intern there when I'm not working at the Rammer Jammer."

Wade chuckled, like Zoe had said something funny. "What?" Zoe asked. "I know it's a small town, but there has to be a doctor's office here, right?"

"Oh, there's a doctor's office, but you're not going to get an internship there. Brick is pretty possessive of the practice," Wade said.

"Brick?" That was some name.

"Brick Breeland," Wade said. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Zoe, but she couldn't figure out why. "Lemon's dad."

"Right, my best friend Lemon," Zoe said dejectedly. "She didn't go around and tell everyone in town to hate me or something, did she?" She had barely even met Lemon, but she could tell when people didn't like her.

"Probably not, but Brick wouldn't hire you either way. Ever since Dr. Wilkes died Brick has been the only doctor in town, and he likes it that way."

_We'll see about that, _Zoe thought. She didn't know Brick Breeland, but she was going to get to know him. And before the summer was over she was going to convince him to let her work at the office. Maybe she wasn't actually a doctor yet, but she was more than qualified to do an internship at a small town clinic. Brick might disagree, but Zoe wasn't going to let a potentially opportunity get away.


	11. The Way You Look At Me

"What on earth are you doing?"

Zoe had been so immersed in her struggle with Lavon's can opener that she hadn't even heard Wade come in the kitchen. "Lavon said I could use his kitchen any time," she said. "I decided to take him up on his offer." As far as Zoe knew Lavon was still asleep upstairs, but she had wanted to get an early start on her plan. She was supposed to report to the Rammer Jammer at noon for her first day of work, so she didn't have a lot of time to spare.

"No, I meant what on earth are you doing with canned pie filling?" Wade asked. He picked up the can of cherry pie filling and shook his head. "Whatever you're up to, it's probably not going to work with this. Or that," he said, motioning to the roll of Pillsberry pie crust that was thawing out on the counter.

"What makes you think I'm up to something?" Zoe asked. Wade didn't know her that well yet. For all he knew, Zoe always baked pies at from pre-made ingredients at eight in the morning. "Maybe I just wanted to make a pie. Who doesn't like a good pie?"

Wade took the can opener out of Zoe's hand and opened the can of filling himself. "Everyone likes _good _pie," he said, prodding a canned cherry with his finger. "But this is not going to make a good pie."

Zoe snatched the can away from him. "Don't touch my cherries," she scolded. She had no intention of admitting it, but the cherries did look pretty gross. Some of them looked a little shriveled, and the liquid they were in could only be described as goo. Or slime. "I've never made a pie before, okay? I have to start somewhere."

"When I was in the carriage house yesterday you had three pies sitting on your table," Wade pointed out. "And I bet none of them were made with frozen crust."

"Probably not, but I don't know how to make pie crust. Or pie filling. Or anything else." Zoe had originally looked for frozen cookie dough at the Dixie Stop, but she hadn't been able to find any. In her pre-coffee haze, she had decided that making a pie would be just as easy as making frozen cookies. That had been before she had spent five minutes trying to open one stupid can.

Wade poked the roll of pie crust. "Is it supposed to be cold?" he asked.

Zoe glowered at him. "You're not helping."

He held up his hands in surrender and headed over to the coffee maker. "Do you want coffee?" he asked, adding a heaping scoop of coffee grounds to the filter before Zoe could answer.

She nodded, examining her pie crust. Hopefully she could unroll it and get it in the pie pan without tearing it to shreds. Wade watched as she took her time separating the crust from the parchment paper it was on. It took a few minutes, but she successfully got it in the pan. Zoe had no idea if she could put it in the oven while it was still cold, but she was going to anyway. The cherries looked very unappetizing as she dumped them into the crust, which seemed to amuse Wade.

"Who are you planning on feeding this to?" Wade asked. "If you wanted a good pie there are a dozen people in a two block radius that could make you one."

"It's for Brick," Zoe said, trying to sound confident in her plan. "I'm going to go over to the clinic before work and talk to him about an internship."

Wade smirked, which was not the supportive reaction Zoe had hoped for. "With that pie?"

"Well, I have to do something," Zoe said. "And pie seems to act like some sort of currency in this town."

"You know, Lemon won the pie baking contest we had a few months ago," Wade said. "Brick probably eats more good pie than anyone else in BlueBell."

Zoe put the top crust on the pie and crimped the edges together. It didn't look too bad. "It's not about how the pie tastes," Zoe said. "It's a gesture. I want him to see that in addition to being motivated, I am friendly and wholesome."

Wade eyed her outfit. "If you're going for wholesome I would get rid of the leather shorts," he said.

Zoe looked down at her outfit. "I thought the black shorts were a little more formal than denim ones," she said. She had a few dresses in her closet, but they all seemed too dressy for discussing an internship. Zoe planned on upgrading her wardrobe a bit when she graduated and was actually working, but her collection of shorts had served her just fine so far.

"There's no such thing as formal shorts."

"You're giving me fashion advice?" Zoe asked. Wade was still in a ratty t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, but even properly dressed Zoe had only ever seen him in flannel and faded jeans. "I think my outfit is fine. I want to be myself."

"The wholesome, pie-making version of yourself," Wade said.

"Exactly." Zoe poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. "And one hour from now, I can show Brick that wholesome, pie-making Zoe Hart would be the perfect intern for his clinic."

The clinic was empty when Zoe walked in with her pie, which she took as a good sign. There was no one around to interrupt her meeting with Brick. The only problem was she had no idea where Brick was. She looked around the tiny clinic, but didn't see anyone who looked like they could be a doctor named Brick.

"Can I help you?" a woman asked, walking out of an exam room. Zoe noticed her looking at her shorts and wondered if she should have listened to Wade.

"I'm looking for Br—Dr. Breeland," Zoe corrected herself. She wasn't sure if she should say she was after an internship, especially since she had no idea who she was talking to. Zoe guessed she was the receptionist, but Zoe didn't want her to think she was after her job or something. "I'm a medical student at a university in Mobile and I was hoping I could talk with him."

The woman looked skeptical, but she flipped through an appointment book. "He's out on a house call right now but he should be back in a few minutes," she said. "Can I get your name?"

"Zoe Hart," she said. "I just moved here."

The receptionist nodded. "Well, have a seat and Dr. Breeland will be with you when he gets back." She looked at the pie Zoe was holding, noticing it for the first time. "Do you want to leave that on the counter?"

"Thanks," Zoe said. "I brought it for Dr. Breeland."

"Brought what for Dr. Breeland?" a man said behind her. From his doctor's coat, Zoe assumed he was Brick.

She was about to introduce herself, but the receptionist jumped in on her behalf. "Dr. Breeland, this is Zoe Hart. She's a medical student from Mobile."

"I'm living here for the summer," Zoe added, reaching out to shake his hand. Brick accepted her handshake, but didn't look particularly interested. Zoe suspected he was a serious man, which would make her plan harder. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would be charmed by a mediocre pie. "If you have some time, could I talk to you?"

Brick waved her into an exam room, which made for an awkward set up. Not wanting to take the only real chair in the room, Zoe just stood near the exam table. "What's the problem today, Zoe?" Brick asked, motioning for her to sit on the exam table.

"Oh, I'm not here for medical reasons," Zoe said quickly. "Actually, I was hoping I could intern here for the summer. I just finished my third year of medical school and would love to get some more experience at an actual office before I graduate." Never mind the fact that Zoe wanted to be a surgeon, not a GP. After striking out the hospital in New York any experience would be good experience.

Brick looked at her sternly. "Did someone tell you I was looking for an intern?"

"No, but I thought it never hurts to ask," Zoe said. It would definitely hurt her pride if he said no, though.

"I don't know what you would do as an intern," Brick said. "You're not qualified to care for my patients. And the people of this town are familiar with me. They may not even want a stranger in the room."

That was disheartening. "Even the opportunity to shadow you would be great," Zoe insisted. She didn't want to leave the clinic without getting some sort of offer.

"You're from Mobile, yes?" Zoe nodded. "There was no place in Mobile that you could intern?"

"I was supposed to spend the summer in New York," Zoe explained. "I thought I could get an internship up there but it didn't work out, so I came back down here."

"So since you couldn't find an internship in Mobile or New York you decided to look in BlueBell," Brick summarized.

"BlueBell wasn't my last choice," Zoe assured him. "I didn't even know I would be in BlueBell this summer, but since I will be I thought I could make the most of my time here."

Maybe she needed to work on making impassioned pleas for work, because Brick regarded her with disinterest. "Well, I've been running this clinic by myself for five months now," he said. "I don't need any help here. I suggest in the future that you plan out internship opportunities better."

Zoe took that to mean no. "Thank you for your time anyway," she said. She didn't want to push the issue today. Zoe didn't want to seem overbearing, since she had every intention of coming back and asking for another chance the next day. Brick didn't think he wanted an intern, but Zoe was going to show him that she could be useful and the best intern he'd ever had. The key was to be persistent, but not over-the-top annoying.

As she started to leave, Brick spoke up. "Oh, and Ms. Hart?" Zoe turned around to face him, hoping that he had somehow changed his mind in the last few seconds. "Next time you go to ask someone for a job, dress appropriately." He nodded at her shorts. "That outfit might be fashionable in New York, but it's not what doctors wear around here."

Damn.


	12. Baby, I Don't Know

A/N: I'm watching season two on Netflix right now and things are about to get a little rough. Why can't Zoe and Wade just be happy always?

* * *

"Damn it, Zoe!"

Zoe had been in BlueBell for a week and while Wade hadn't given her any clues about possible romantic feelings towards her, he had no trouble expressing his irritation. She couldn't fault him for it, though. Zoe was not exactly the Rammer Jammer's employee of the month.

She tried her best ,but the problem was that Zoe just didn't care about being a waitress. She was so grateful to Wade for giving her a job, but her heart was set on working at Brick's clinic. Every day at the Rammer Jammer she kept her eyes on the door, waiting to see if Brick would come in. He never did, but she was still constantly distracted by it. It was starting to affect her work.

Half the time, she wasn't even sure what she was doing wrong. Wade's training in the art of waitressing had been somewhat lacking. The lesson had basically started and ended with "get people their drinks and food and try to trip". Every time Wade yelled at her she had to ask what she was doing wrong, which only irritated him more. It wasn't her fault that Wade hadn't taught her anything, though. Zoe looked over at Wade from the table she was wiping down. "Am I using the wrong cloth to clean the tables?" she asked, hazarding a guess.

"You ate my Danish!" Wade said angrily, holding up a paper plate covered in crumbs.

At least she hadn't messed up at doing her job. "I thought it was up for grabs," Zoe said. She had spent the last three years doing her best to avoid all the deep fried and gravy covered delicacies of the South, but it was impossible to deny her sweet tooth. If there was a Danish just sitting alone in the kitchen, she was going to eat it. Finders keepers.

Wade scoffed. "There are only two of us here, and you didn't bring in the Danish. I took that one from Lavon's this morning to eat for lunch."

"Okay, you really shouldn't just eat a Danish for lunch," Zoe said. "That's not a balanced meal." She had supplemented her Danish with a turkey sandwich and some strawberries, which had felt like a reasonable meal. She had even tossed some lettuce on the sandwich. "And Lavon has had danishes for breakfast every morning this week. I'm sure he'll have more tomorrow." Zoe hadn't yet figured out if Lavon was spoiling them with pastries because Zoe had just moved in or if he actually ordered pastries every morning for breakfast. If it was the latter she was kind of worried about his refined sugar consumption.

"You owe me a Danish," Wade grumbled.

Zoe tossed her cleaning rag down on the bar and poured herself a glass of water. "No one has ever died of a Danish deficiency," she said. "But if you are absolutely certain that you need a Danish, I can run to the Butterstick and get you one." Even when he was irritated with her, he was still pretty cute. If Wade wanted her to get him a Danish, she wasn't going to say no.

Wade shook his head. "Not during the lunch rush," he said, like that should have been obvious.

The Rammer Jammer was nearly empty. "I didn't realize part of the population of BlueBell was invisible," she said. Zoe had mostly been working in the evenings so she hadn't been part of a lunch rush yet and it didn't seem like that would be changing. She didn't think there were enough people in BlueBell to even make up a lunch rush.

"They'll be here," Wade insisted. "BlueBell only has two restaurants and no one goes to Fancie's for lunch. So I'd get ready to do a little less sitting if I were you."

Zoe saluted him. "I'm ready," she insisted. Even though she doubted the Rammer Jammer was about to turn into a madhouse, she didn't want to give Wade another reason to yell at her. For someone who stayed up until 2 a.m. playing video games and listening to rock music at an unreasonable level, he was surprisingly serious as a boss.

When she heard the door open Zoe jumped off her bar stool, prepared to be the best waitress the Rammer Jammer had ever seen. If she impressed Wade with her waiting skills maybe he would forget about her eating his Danish.

Her desire to be super waitress fizzled out when she walked over to the table and saw who was sitting there. "Lemon!" she exclaimed. She had been hoping that even if Brick didn't come in the Rammer Jammer, Lemon would. From what she had gathered during her week in BlueBell, Lemon still lived with her father and the two were very close. If Zoe couldn't get to Brick, maybe she could get to Lemon.

Hoping Wade wouldn't yell at her again, she sat down across from Lemon and plastered on a big smile. "What can I do for you today, Lemon?"

Lemon narrowed her eyes at Zoe, which looked far too menacing for someone wearing a dress decorated with hot air balloons. "You can get out of that seat," she said. "Annabeth is meeting me here."

"Of course, of course," Zoe said, jumping up quickly. "I just thought since it's slow right now we could take some time to chat." She rested her hand on the back of Lemon's chair, which made her flinch.

"I'd really just like a glass of tea," Lemon said, eyeing Zoe's hand warily.

Zoe hurried to the kitchen and poured her a glass, making sure to carry it carefully to the table so it didn't spill. "Here you go," she said, trying to put on her sweetest voice. "You know, I was hoping you'd come in today. I was just thinking earlier 'Hey, why don't Lemon and I talk more? I should really change that'."

Lemon didn't look impressed. "What do you want, Zoe?"

Zoe tried to sound incredulous, even though it probably came off as forced. "What do I want? I just want to talk to you, Lemon. Since I've been in BlueBell I've really been filled with the neighborly spirit. So, how are things with you? How's your dad?" she asked casually.

"He's usually good but lately he's been a little tense," Lemon said, flipping through a menu. Zoe could tell he was just avoiding making eye contact with her. "He says a girl keeps bothering him at his clinic, begging him for a job."

"That sounds terrible," Zoe said sympathetically. "People these days are just so selfish. They can't think about anything else but their own agendas!"

"He told me it was you."

Crap. Zoe sat back down at the table and reached across to Lemon, who pulled her hands back like Zoe was poisonous. "I will admit I may have come on a little strong," Zoe said. "But everyone in town loves your dad. I would really, really appreciate a chance to intern at his clinic. I think I could learn a lot from him. Especially since hey, his daughter turned out well."

"Do not try to butter me up, Zoe Hart. I have no say in what goes on at my father's practice." Lemon looked up at her. "Why are you still here? You may come back and take my order when Annabeth gets here."

Zoe sighed. "I just thought maybe you could do me this one little favor. As friends!"

"We are not friends."

Even though she already knew that, Zoe winced. "I was kind of hoping that wouldn't come up," she said. "Please, Lemon? Just tell him that I am not crazy and I would be a real asset around the office." She had tried to tell Brick that every day for a week and he hadn't been convinced, but maybe he would believe it if it was coming from his daughter.

"I'm not going to lie to Daddy for you," Lemon said. "He has been a doctor in this town my whole life and if he thinks that you are not right for working at the clinic then I believe him and I am going to stay out of it."

Even though things weren't working out in her favor, Zoe had to appreciate Lemon's attitude. It was hard to argue with someone who was so strongly principled. If Zoe was in Lemon's place, she probably would have said the exact same thing. Still, Zoe couldn't let it go that easily. "Free dessert!" she said, jumping out of her chair. "I will give you a free dessert."

"No you won't!" Wade called from behind the bar. "And what the hell are you doing over there? You've got tables piling up."

Sure enough, a steady stream of people had come into the Rammer Jammer while she had been talking to Lemon. Zoe had no choice but to abandon her begging and get to work. "I'll be back when Annabeth gets here," she said dejectedly, heading over to another table. She did a decent job not spilling drinks and taking orders correctly, but once again her mind just wasn't on her work.

Zoe knew she should give up on her desire to work at Brick's clinic, but it kept gnawing at her. At first it had seemed like it could work out perfectly. She had already planned it all out in her mind. She could intern at the clinic during the day and work at the Rammer Jammer in the evenings. That little fantasy had been enough to make her think moving to BlueBell had been the right decision. But now it looked like it was really, definitely not going to happen. Brick didn't want her at his clinic and was probably going to be less inclined to hire her if she kept bothering.

Lemon's dislike for her wasn't helping matters, either. After she and Annabeth left Zoe leaned against the bar and sighed crossly. "Lemon hates me," she said to Wade. "Brick is never going to hire me if Lemon hates me."

"Lemon hates everyone," Wade said dismissively. "I wouldn't take it personally. And Brick is never going to hire you because he's Brick. It has nothing to do with Lemon."

"Gee, thanks," Zoe said, pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher she had left on the bar. "I just don't understand why he won't hire me. I would be a catch!"

"Guys like Brick like feeling important," Wade said. "After years of sharing the practice he's finally got the place to himself and he's not going to let anyone else try to be in charge."

"I don't want to be in charge," Zoe insisted. "I just want to follow him around and learn from him."

Wade smirked. "That sounds even worse. You, following him around all day? No wonder he said no."

Zoe flicked a discarded piece of French fry at him. "I'm glad I ate your Danish."


	13. Gonna Make It To The Party

A/N: I'm sorry this took forever to post! I had midterms and I started my new job and blah, blah, excuses, etc. But to make up for it and to mourn the finale of Hart of Dixie, I'm posting two chapters right now! I hope you guys like them :)

* * *

"Zoe Hart!"

She flinched. Even though she couldn't think of a single thing she had done wrong in the last 24 hours, Zoe was sure she was about to get yelled at. Going to the Butterstick for her dinner break instead of staying at the Rammer Jammer had obviously been a mistake. All she'd wanted was a latte and now someone was mad at her.

Zoe nearly spit out a mouthful of foamy coffee when Brick sat down across from her. After her disastrous conversation with Lemon a few days ago she had decided to lay off about the internship. She'd thought that Brick would respect her more if she didn't bother him every day. It seemed like she had come to that conclusion a little too late. "What can I do for you today, Brick?" she asked, trying to sound professional in case she hadn't totally ruined her chances at working with him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brick demanded. He was extremely agitated, which made Zoe extremely confused.

"Tell you what?" she asked. Had she accidentally poisoned him with one of her semi-homemade baked goods? Maybe he was allergic to frozen pastry dough.

Brick sighed as if talking to Zoe was exhausting, but she wasn't trying to be coy. She genuinely had no idea what was going on. "That you're Harley's daughter," Brick said slowly. "You would think that would be the kind of thing a person would lead with upon showing up at their place of work."

If Zoe had been drinking her coffee she would have choked. As it was, she felt a little strangled anyway. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"If I had known, I would have said yes to your internship," Brick said. "Even if you are unqualified—"

"I'm not unqualified," Zoe said automatically. Her head was spinning and she wondered if she was possibly going to pass out, but she couldn't let her qualifications be questioned.

Brick ignored her. "We take care of family around here," Brick said. "If you had told me you were Harley's daughter I would have given you a chance. Harley would have done the same for my daughter."

Zoe held up a hand to stop him. "I appreciate that and everything, but you need to back up a step. You keep saying I'm Harley's daughter, but you obviously have me confused with someone else. My dad's name is Ethan Hart." She and her dad didn't have the greatest relationship, but he was a busy guy. Just because they weren't close didn't mean he wasn't her father.

"Harley's sister came into the clinic yesterday and we were talking and I mentioned you and she told me that you were Harley's daughter and now that he's passed away and doesn't have any other children she could say something," Brick said. To his credit, he looked uncomfortable. He clearly hadn't gone into the Butterstick to drop some earth-shattering news on Zoe. "She must have thought you knew."

"Well, I didn't know," Zoe said, taking a gulp of her coffee. "But thank you for telling me. I think. I just have to…" She pulled out her phone and pulled up her mom's number. She pushed away from the table and waved goodbye to Brick as she stepped out of the Butterstick, her phone clamped to her ear. "Pick up the phone," Zoe said to herself as it rang. It went to voicemail and she redialed the number, wondering if she should try her mom's office phone instead. "Who doesn't answer the phone when their daughter calls?"

She could see Brick watching her curiously through the window, probably wondering if she was having some sort of panic attack. Zoe gave him a big thumbs up to let him know that she was okay, or at least wasn't going to keel over in the street. On the third try, her mom answered her phone. "I have a meeting to go to in five minutes so this better be important," Candice said, skipping the pleasantries. She sounded hurried, but her meeting wasn't important to Zoe at that moment.

"Why did a man named Brick just tell me that someone named Harley Wilkes is my father?" Zoe asked. She expected her mom to tell her that the doctor was crazy and had her confused with someone else, but Candice was silent for a moment. Zoe's heart started racing. It was one thing for Brick to say something insane, but it made her very worried that her mom wasn't speaking up. "Mom, why did he say that?"

Candice sighed. "I met Harley on a cruise in Greece," she said. "It was a silly fling and it only happened once."

"Once is all it takes!" Zoe said. Judging by the stares she was getting, she had actually yelled it. She lowered her voice. "Were you never going to mention this to me?"

"I didn't think it would ever come up," Candice said. "I couldn't think of a way that you would ever find out. Of course, then you had to go and move to the one place in Alabama where he lived."

"You said you'd never heard of BlueBell when I told you," Zoe said, remembering her mom's reaction when she had told her about the move. Zoe had assumed her mom was upset about her moving because she thought it was some sort of quarter-life crisis, but now she was viewing their conversation very differently. Her mom hadn't been concerned about her daughter's well-being; she was worried that Zoe was going to find out the big family secret. "Is this why you didn't want me to move to Alabama for school?" Candice had ranted up a storm about how everyone in the south was backwards and dressed badly, but now her vehement disapproval made a lot more sense.

"Mobile is so close to BlueBell," Candice said. "I thought if you started poking around doctor's offices around there you might find out."

Zoe was very tempted to just hang up on her mom and deal with all of this later, but her desire to yell at her mom was stronger. "Well, that's exactly what happened! Actually, no. His business partner found out first and told me while I was having dinner. Apparently Harley's sister heard about me being in town and told him." Zoe hadn't thought too much about it when Brick had told her, but now something occurred to her. "Wait, so if Harley's sister told him about me, someone had to tell her about me. Harley knew about me?"

"I sent him a letter when you were born," Candice said. "I was very clear in my letter that he was not to contact us about the whole thing. I never heard from him again. Did he leave BlueBell?"

Zoe couldn't believe how calm her mom seemed about the whole situation. "He died a few months ago," Zoe said. "And Brick said he never had any other children. So he died knowing he had a daughter out there somewhere that he was never allowed to meet." The words hit her hard as she was saying them and she felt a profound sense of sadness. She had never met Harley and hadn't even known he existed until she moved to BlueBell, but it seemed so wrong that he had known he was someone's father and wasn't able to experience that. "Mom, I have to go," Zoe said, hanging up her phone before her mom could protest. Her anger had faded for the moment and she really didn't feel like talking to her anymore.

She considered going back to the Rammer Jammer to finish her shift, but she decided to just go home instead. Wade could yell at her later if he wanted. When she got home she shut off her phone and filled her bathtub up with the hottest water she could stand and half a bottle of French bubble bath. She laid in the bath for over an hour, trying to empty her mind of all thoughts about Brick, the clinic and the real identity of her father. Of course, that was impossible. Even the country music playing over the radio couldn't distract her from her thoughts. The first 25 years of her life had been a total lie and she had never even guessed.

Other people had known, though. Her mom had known, and Harley and his sister. And her dad, she realized. It explained why he had always been so distant with her. Zoe had grown up thinking he was obsessed with his work and was just a very professional person, but now she was seeing his behavior through a different lens. Even when she had wanted nothing more to follow in his footsteps and work with him someday, he had seen her as someone else's kid. Zoe hadn't realized it at the time, but he had treated her like it. And he still did. He wasn't too busy with work to spend time with her or return her emails. Now that she was an adult, he had fulfilled his duty. He didn't have to pretend to have a connection with a girl who wasn't his daughter.

It was all too much to handle, and much more than a bubble bath could erase. Even though it was just after 7 p.m. Zoe dried off and headed to the Rammer Jammer, willing to handle Wade's anger if it meant she could get some alcohol in her system.

Wade didn't look impressed when Zoe walked in the bar. Considering her wet hair was piled up on her head in a bun and her makeup was most likely smeared from her bath, she couldn't blame him. "Did you forget that your shift didn't end right after your break?" he asked as she sat down at the bar. "I've been calling your phone for two hours now."

"I'm done with my phone for today," she said, looking at the bottles along the wall to decide what she wanted. "Can you get me a glass of gin? No, rum." Usually she stuck to wine or lighter mixed drinks, but tonight was not the night for that.

"Did you hit your head when you left for your break? Technically, you're still on the clock." Wade picked up the bottle of rum, but gave her a hard look instead of pouring her a glass.

"Technically, my father is not actually my father, so I decided that trumped the dinner shift," Zoe said. "And for the icing on the cake, my real father is dead so I'll never even get to meet him. So I would like a glass of rum, please. On the rocks."

Wade raised an eyebrow, but poured her the drink. "Can I ask what the hell you're talking about?" he asked, handing her the glass.

Zoe motioned for him to hold on and took a huge gulp of rum. It burned going down, but after a second it turned into a nice warmth that she could feel spreading through her body. "Brick came to see me on my break and told me that if he had just known that I was Harley Wilkes' daughter, he would have let me intern at the clinic. He seemed pretty surprised that I didn't know." She took another sip of her rum. It didn't burn as badly the second time. "So then I called my mom and confronted her and obviously she did know. And Harley knew. And my dad knew. So the only person who didn't know that I'm some Grecian cruise lovechild was me. But hey, Brick said since I'm Harley's daughter I can have an internship at the clinic, so here's to nepotism!" She took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing pulse.

Wade looked at Zoe with a mix of sympathy and what Zoe took to be fear. She couldn't blame him for that. She was going on like a crazy person. It wouldn't have surprised her if she was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. "You want some fries or something?" Wade asked. Zoe nodded gratefully. Wade wasn't the type of person who was great with other people's emotions, so Zoe recognized his offer as a way of reaching out to her. He might not be especially responsive if she wanted to complain about her life, but she knew he would listen.

While Wade was dropping a fresh batch of fries into the fryer Zoe poured herself more rum. It probably wasn't a good idea and she would no doubt wake up with a killer hangover, but tonight Zoe Hart was trying something new. In the past she had always put school and work first. She had never gone on spring break with her friends and on the occasions that they had gone out to bars she had always made sure to stay sober enough to keep an eye on her friends. She didn't have any crazy drunken stories to tell from her past. But tonight she wasn't Zoe Hart. She was just Zoe, with a murky family history and a shattered sense of who she was. So she was going to drink rum. And once the dinner crowd dissipated, Wade grabbed a glass and joined her.


	14. Whole Lot Of Moonlight Left

A/N: I'm posting this at the same time as chapter 13 so be sure to read that one first!

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Zoe woke up the next morning convinced she was in hell. There was no other possible explanation for the way she was feeling. Her head was throbbing before she even opened her eyes and her stomach felt like she had drank lava. From the hellfire, she assumed. For a minute she laid there with her eyes shut tight, determined not to move a muscle until the waves of dizziness washing over her subsided.

That was, until she felt someone shift next to her. Zoe tried to scream in panic, but all she managed was a little whimper. Someone was in bed with her and they certainly hadn't been there when she'd gone to be the night before. Had they? After all the rum she'd had at the Rammer Jammer it was kind of a blur. But Zoe certainly wouldn't have invited somebody to sleep in her bed, so she could only assume it was some sort of murderer who was laying there watching her. She was afraid to open her eyes because she had no idea what she would come face to face with, but she knew she wouldn't be able to just will the other person away.

It took a minute for her scratchy, dry eyes to adjust to the blinding sunlight, but after a second she was able to make out blond hair and an irritating cocky grin. "No," Zoe moaned. "Why are you in my house? Why are you in my _bed_?"

Wade chuckled. "Morning, Doc. How you feeling?"

Zoe fought the urge to vomit. "I was fine until I saw you in my bed. Are you stalking me?" Whatever confusing romantic feelings she had towards Wade were far from her mind at that moment. Wade looked like he knew something Zoe didn't, which wasn't surprising. Zoe didn't remember much at all from the night before. In fact, she didn't even remember coming home. She didn't feel like she was in pain or bleeding so she'd obviously survived the walk home just fine, but the fact that she had no memory of it concerned her.

Wade just continued smirking at her, which was irritating. Zoe closed her eyes and rolled over, but Wade didn't move. "You don't remember? I gotta tell you, that's a little insulting. I was doing the best I could, and all things considered it wasn't the worst I've ever had."

"No, I don't remember," Zoe said testily. "Haha, you pulled one over on me. And what do you mean, it wasn't the worst…" She trailed off, thinking about the implications of what he had said. She had her blanket pulled up over her shoulders, but she snuck a peek underneath to confirm her suspicions. She was awfully naked for someone who always slept with pajamas on. "Oh, no. No, no, no. Tell me we did not have sex last night."

He just shrugged. "Wish I could, Doc. But believe me, it happened. A couple of times, actually."

"Stop talking," Zoe groaned. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, which pulled it away from Wade. "And put some clothes on!" She grabbed a spare pillow and put it over her face. "How did this even happen? God, I don't remember anything. This is how episodes of SVU start."

"Oh, I can tell you how it happened," Wade said, sounding absolutely thrilled about having the chance to relay the information. "I was just trying to walk you home, but you insisted I come inside with you."

"I did not," Zoe said. But maybe she did. Everything was such a blur that she really had no idea. Maybe when she was drunk she became some sort of sex-crazed lunatic. In her day to day life she would never randomly invite Wade inside to have sex, but after many glasses of rum… "I wouldn't do that," she said, trying to sound sure of herself. That was her story and she was going to stick to it.

Wade tried to pull the pillow off her face, but she held on tight. "You did do that. I said no, I was just walking you home, but you were very insistent. You took your shirt off before we were even inside. It's still out on the porch." He was getting way too much amusement out of the story. It just made Zoe feel sick. That or the rum trying to escape her body.

"This isn't a good story," Zoe mumbled from under the pillow.

"Hey, I was a proper gentleman," Wade said. "But you would not let me leave. You said some pretty interesting things, actually. Given your delicate state I won't repeat them, but let me tell you, they made it pretty hard to say no. Plus you weren't wearing a shirt."

Zoe shook her head, which made it feel like marbles were rolling around in her brain. "I can't even deal with this right now," she said. She was still too fresh off the news that her father wasn't actually her father. The idea that she had taken her friendship with Wade way too far was too much to handle. Especially when it felt like she had woken up in a dumpster and not in her bed. Keeping her comforter wrapped tightly around her, she slowly climbed out of bed. "I am going to take a shower," she said. "And while I'm in the shower you need to go be somewhere else." She tripped over the hem of her blanket on her way to the bathroom and glared at Wade when he laughed. "This will not happen again," she warned him.

"I don't know, Doc," Wade said, raising an eyebrow at her. "You seemed to like it."

Zoe groaned and shut the bathroom door, hoping Wade would actually be gone when she left. How could she have sex with him and not even remember it? If she was being honest, she had entertained the idea of having sex with him once or twice before. But whenever she thought about it she was always under the assumption that she would remember it happening. Seducing him in a drunken haze was never part of those thoughts.

_It couldn't have been that good if I don't even remember it_, Zoe thought as she turned on the hot water. That thought made her feel a little bit better. Wade was probably totally exaggerating. In reality the whole thing was most likely sloppy and unsatisfying. Considering it had been a while since Zoe had a guy around, she wouldn't have been surprised if she was completely out of practice. Maybe it was good that she'd gotten that out of her system with Wade.

When she got out of the shower her house was miraculously empty. Zoe immediately headed to her cappuccino maker and wasn't surprised to see that she was out of coffee. With the way the previous day had gone, it was par for the course. Slipping on some flip flops she headed to Lavon's, knowing he always had coffee. Wade hadn't been lying about her taking her top off. The tank top she had worn the night before was tossed over the porch railing. Zoe ignored it, hoping maybe it would just go away on its own.

It didn't look like Lavon was home, but Wade was in the kitchen when Zoe walked in. "Have a nice shower?" he asked, pouring a cup of coffee. He handed it to her and she accepted it, although she was still annoyed with him.

She couldn't put a finger on why exactly she was mad, but it was easier to be mad at Wade than sort through all her other feelings. Zoe wasn't mad at him for accepting her apparently very persuasive offer to have sex, but she was mad that he was taking everything so lightly. Zoe had had the worst day of her life, and he was treating their night like a joke. He'd been supportive at the Rammer Jammer while she had gone on for hours about her family, and now he was joking around like that hadn't even happened.

Zoe drank her coffee quietly, wishing it was a triple espresso instead. Wade seemed to sense her bad mood, because he didn't say anything as he drank his coffee either. At last, he spoke up. "So, what are you going to do about the internship?" he asked.

"Internship?" It took Zoe a moment to remember that technically, Brick had said something about an internship amidst the news about Harley. "I guess I can talk to Brick about it today," she said. "I could use the experience. It might be too weird, though. It was one thing when I thought I would just be interning with Brick but my—Harley owned half the place. That's a lot to live up to. And Brick had no interest in giving me an internship before he heard about Harley," she continued. "He said he would have given me the internship if he'd known, which means that would be the only reason he'd even give me a chance. I don't know if I even want an internship that's not based on my merits."

Zoe had always thought it was a good thing to be strongly principled, but Wade looked at her like she was crazy. "If he's offering you something, you should take it," he said. "Who cares if it's because of someone you're related to? It's an opportunity. And trust me, if you say no, Brick is not going to offer again."

Maybe Wade had a good point there. Zoe was uneasy with the idea of taking an internship just because she shared some DNA with someone, but experience was experience and she could use all the practice she could get before she graduated. "Maybe I will," she said, draining her coffee. She poured herself another cup and looked at the clock on the stove. "He's probably at the clinic right now. I could go right over there."

Wade nodded. "Or you could put on some clothes first," he suggested, nodding at her boxer-style pajama shorts she was wearing. "Not that I'm complaining."

"I'm not having sex with you again," Zoe said firmly, walking toward the door. "You can look all you want, but it's not happening." Her resolve was strong at first, but as she walked out of Lavon's she couldn't help but look behind her to see if Wade was watching her leave.


	15. The Time Of Our Lives

A/N: I feel weird posting a chapter on April Fool's Day because nothing on the internet can be trusted on April 1st but hey, chapter 15. I couldn't let Wade seem like kind of a perv until a more opportune date. Although he does have some rather misguided ideas about sex in my opinion.

* * *

"We didn't have sex," Zoe announced later that afternoon, marching into the Rammer Jammer. She had gotten so caught up in her triumphant discovery that she hadn't thought to scan the room first but luckily, the place was empty. "You know how I know that?" she continued, sitting down at the bar. Wade raised an eyebrow at her, which Zoe took as an invitation to continue. "I checked both my trash cans and the floor and there was no condom anywhere. Or a wrapper. And even if I drank a gallon of rum I would still use a condom. You could have diseases."

Wade's amused look really put a damper on Zoe's pride. "You should be on Scooby Doo," he said. "So, did you spend all morning investigating?"

"No, I just happened to notice when I got back from talking to Brick," Zoe said. She left out the part where she had scoured the entire carriage house looking for some sort of evidence that they had actually had sex. Fresh off waking up she had just kind of accepted Wade's explanation of the night, but the more she thought about it the more off it seemed. Zoe hadn't been completely wasted many times and while she could believe that she got flirty, she doubted her ability to actually initiate anything as complicated as sex. In the past her sex life had never been particularly acrobatic, but there was still a certain amount of skill involved that she probably wasn't capable of while drunk. Plus she didn't feel like she'd had sex. If Wade had been telling the truth about them having sex several times, she would have expected to feel something.

"How'd that go?" Wade asked, very obviously trying to steer the conversation in another direction. "Did you get the internship?"

"He said he can give me fifteen hours a week, but that's not the point," Zoe said, walking behind the bar to pour herself a glass of water. "What made you think pretending we had sex was a good idea? And what made you thinking being naked in my bed was a good idea?"

Wade leaned against the bar and looked at her like she was crazy. "I wasn't naked," he said. "You were, but I wasn't."

"Yes, you were," Zoe insisted, although even as she said it she wasn't quite sure. She had thought he was, but she wasn't exactly in the clearest state of mind that morning either. He definitely hadn't been wearing a shirt, but Zoe had spent so much time trying to block out the light with a pillow that it was possible she just hadn't gotten a great look at everything else. "Okay, let's say you weren't. Why was I? I'm not usually naked."

"You sure you want to hear the story?" Wade asked. "I don't think you're going to like it."

"It can't be any worse than the one where I had sex with you," Zoe shot back, even though she could definitely think of a few things worse than having sex with Wade. Truthfully, the idea of hooking up with him was appealing from a physical standpoint, but as of now they were solidly just friends and Zoe didn't want to make things weird there. Maybe she would like to take her relationship with Wade further, but she wanted it to happen organically. She didn't want to be thrown into something way more complex because she'd been drunk one night. "So, spill. What did I actually do?"

Wade smirked, which was not a great start to the conversation. "Well first, I tried to give you a glass of water after all the rum you drank but you spilled the entire thing on your shirt, which is when I decided that you should probably go home."

That would explain why she had left her shirt on the porch. Zoe hated being stuck wearing wet clothes. Getting caught in the rain always ruined her whole day. So one part of Wade's story was true. "Okay, so I did take off my shirt," she said. "When did I take off my pants?"

"I'm getting there," Wade said. "On the walk home you lost both shoes. I don't even know how. When we got back you just weren't wearing shoes anymore." Zoe groaned. The sandals she had been wearing the day before had just been delivered from Zappos that morning. She would have to look around on her way home. "And then when we got inside you threw up."

"Of course I did," Zoe said, wincing. She was glad she didn't remember that part. She hated getting sick. "Was I at least in the bathroom?"

Wade nodded. "That's when you took off your shorts," he said. "You said they were your 'favorite shorts ever' and you didn't want to ruin them." He did air quotes to demonstrate that she was the one who had said that and not him. That was definitely a drunk thing to say, because the shorts she was wearing were ones she'd cut off from a pair of stained jeans.

Given how she had felt when she woke up that morning, everything Wade was saying sounded believable. "Okay, I _guess _I believe you," Zoe said. "But that doesn't explain why you were in my bed when I woke up this morning. In your underwear."

"Well, I wasn't going to sleep with jeans on," Wade said. "After you flipped out when you spilled water on yourself last night I forgot my keys. I didn't really want to break one of my windows just to get inside. I was kind of doing you a favor, by the way. You could have died without me there."

That was kind of true, if a total exaggeration. "Okay, so according to this story I lost my shoes, got sick and you saved my life," Zoe recapped. She didn't love that story either, but it felt more accurate than the one where she'd seduced Wade in a drunken stupor. "It's not that bad, though. It's not like I tried to wrestle Burt Reynolds or anything. Why did you think that story was a better idea?" She thought she knew Wade relatively well, but she was obviously still learning things about him. Like the fact that he was possibly clinically insane.

Wade looked surprisingly serious when he answered her though. "I thought it would take your mind off of all the stuff with your family," he said. "You were in pretty bad shape last night. You were kind of fun when you first started drinking but after a while you didn't seem like you."

That was an understatement. Zoe didn't usually drink herself into oblivion. "So you were worried about me. And your solution was to make me think we had sex, even though that would make things weird."

"Hey, I didn't have a lot of time to come up with something," Wade said. "And what do you mean, weird? Sex with me is not weird. Unless you want it to be weird," he added with a grin.

"Not like that," Zoe said, lightly punching his arm. "We're friends. Friends don't have sex with each other." Except friends with benefits, but from the movies Zoe had seen featuring those storylines the two people usually ended up with feelings for each other.

Wade just shrugged. "Sex is just sex," he said. "It doesn't have to be some big emotion love thing."

"I'm not saying I'm waiting until marriage or anything," Zoe argued. "I just think that it can complicate things. And believe me, my life is complicated enough right now. I've apparently got a whole family I never knew about." It was kind of funny that Wade had brought up having sex to try to distract her from her family drama, because finding out about Harley had been helpful in distracting her from her feelings about Wade, even just for a day.

"So are you saying you saying you wouldn't have sex with me?" Wade asked.

Zoe knew he was just trying to wind her up, but she blushed anyway. "I'm not saying—I'm just saying your idea was terrible," she said, stumbling over her words. She took a sip of water to avoid talking for a second. "You could've just said 'hey, you got drunk and naked and I stayed here to make sure you didn't choke on your own vomit'."

"I could have," Wade admitted. "I didn't realize the idea of having sex with me would make your day that much worse."

Zoe was pretty sure he was joking, but she felt a little bad. "It didn't make my day _that _worse," she said. "I'm just not in the habit of having sex with my friends."

"Well, it looks like we cleared that up," Wade said, refilling Zoe's water glass. "So, did you walk all the way over here just to call me a liar?"

"Yup," Zoe said. "I could have told you when I came in for work, but that's hours from now and I couldn't just keep it to myself. Although now I'm here and I don't have to work for hours," she realized. She hadn't really thought that one through. Zoe didn't really want to walk back to the carriage house just to walk back for work later on. It was approximately a million degrees out and she didn't even have her new sandals anymore. "Maybe I'll just hang out here for a while."

Wade tossed her a cleaning rag. "You can wipe down the tables," he suggested. Zoe threw the cloth back at him.

"Hey, I'm not on the clock," she said. "Can you make me some fries? My head is killing me. I need grease." She was probably going to gain a million pounds working at a place where she had French fries on demand, but the Rammer Jammer had good fries.

"You're going to bankrupt me if you keep asking for free fries," Wade grumbled, but he tossed a batch of fries in the deep fryer anyway.

"I'll pay for them later," Zoe said. Whether or not she would was a toss-up, but at least the sentiment was there. "You kind of owe me for lying, anyway."

"I did see you naked, so we'll call it even," Wade said before heading back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the fries.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Zoe called. "Are you saying seeing me naked is only worth a few dollars?" Wade turned and smirked at her, but didn't answer. "If you're going to equate seeing me naked with a basket of fries you are never seeing me naked again!"


	16. Just Getting Started Tonight

A/N: I have so been slacking on this story and I'm so sorry! I finished my classes for the semester, so hopefully I'll have more time to work on it now. I tried to finish up this chapter last night but got distracted and started a different story instead that might be a thing someday. Don't worry, I still love Wade and Zoe and all of you for reading this! EDIT: I was informed that I tried to post this and uploaded a Gilmore Girls chapter instead! Whoops. Never be in a hurry. And it helps if you're not on the same chapter number for two stories, too.

* * *

Zoe's first month in BlueBell went by so quickly that she didn't even have time to stop and think about the summer she was missing in New York. Between interning with Brick and working at the Rammer Jammer, some days she barely even had time to grab a pastry from Lavon's kitchen in the morning. Even though she was only interning at the clinic fifteen hours a week, she tried to make an appearance every day on the off chance that Brick would begrudgingly toss her a few more hours. It had worked a couple of times, but Brick usually just told her that he would see her the next time she was supposed to be at the clinic and by the way, her shorts were unprofessional.

He wasn't the only one that thought so. On days when Zoe was at the clinic, she felt like she was constantly trying to dodge Lemon Breeland. Zoe wasn't sure what exactly it was that she did, but she sure spent a lot of time at her father's clinic. When she brought him in lunch three days in a row Zoe was sure she was trying to butter him up for something, but nothing ever materialized. She just genuinely liked brining her dad a homemade lunch while he was at work. Zoe wasn't sure what to make of their relationship. Brick and Lemon clearly adored each other, which was not a family bond Zoe was familiar with. Her relationship with her dad was more business-like than anything, with him playing the role of professional mentor. She had a better relationship with her mother, but not the type where they had picnic lunches together.

Between Lemon's overtly wonderful relationship with her dad and the way she side-eyed Zoe's clothes, she tried to make herself scare when Lemon was around. When Lemon came around for lunch Zoe usually shot out the door and took off for the Butter Stick where she ate lunch alone. Zoe had learned that Lemon was something of a queen around BlueBell, and starting off on the wrong foot with her had really hindered her chances of making some girlfriends in town. Zoe was pretty sure she didn't have anything in common with Lemon's crowd, but it would have been nice to have friends in addition to Wade and Lavon. They were both wonderful but they had a serious deficiency when it came to talking about shoes.

After yet another perfunctorily cordial run-in with Lemon, Zoe grabbed her usual table at the Butter Stick and pulled up Facebook on her phone. Despite the fact that she hadn't really spoken to Gigi since her trip to New York, she was still Facebook friends with her and couldn't help but read up on her life. Gigi was the type of girl to post multiple times a day, including checking in to swanky places around the city and reposting pictures from Instagram. Her feed had become something of a hate read for Zoe. She was halfway through reading a long post about some gala Gigi was planning when she noticed someone sit down across from her.

"Hi," she said before she looked up, assuming it was Lavon. When she noticed it was someone from Lemon's social circle, she cleared her throat. "Hi," she said again, immediately feeling a bit self-conscious. Brick's idea of interning had included a lot of cleaning that morning, and she was sure she was a mess. The girl across from her was perfectly put together, which was no surprise. "It's AnnaBeth, right?" She wasn't sure if she had been formally introduced to her before, but she had seen her around.

AnnaBeth nodded. "I saw you sitting here and just thought I'd ask if you'd given any more thought to joining the Belles." Zoe must have given her a blank look, because AnnaBeth forged on. "Lemon said she asked you to join and you said you'd think about it," she said slowly, like Zoe needed time to catch up. When Zoe still didn't say anything, she tried again. "Since you're a Belle legacy? Because your aunt was in the group?"

"Okay, clearly I'm out of the loop here," Zoe said, shaking her head. "Lemon never asked me anything about joining the Belles." In fact, Zoe had tried to avoid the Belles at all cost since she knew Lemon was the leader. She had assumed that any group run by Lemon would be full of people like Lemon, and that was not especially appealing to Zoe. "And what do you mean, I'm Belle legacy? I didn't even know I had an aunt." Since finding out about her real father, Zoe had tried to compartmentalize that part of her life and not think about it at all. At first she had been curious about what the Wilkes part of her family might be like, but that was quickly replaced by fear of finding of possibly finding out horrible things.

AnnaBeth flushed slightly, realizing she'd said something she shouldn't have. "I thought Lemon asked you," she said quickly. "We're always on the lookout for new people to join the Belles. It's so hard finding people who appreciate the town's traditions and I thought Lemon would be excited about finding a legacy. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay," Zoe assured her. She wasn't surprised that Lemon hadn't talked to her. Zoe knew she wasn't Belle material. The idea of putting on one of those ridiculous pastel dresses with all the petticoats made her want to pop a Benadryl to ward off the inevitable hives. "Now that I know, I'll think about it." AnnaBeth seemed like a sweet girl and sounded eager to have someone new join the Belles, so Zoe didn't want to say what she really thought: hell no. "It doesn't really seem like my kind of thing though," she added, so AnnaBeth didn't get her hopes up or go back to Lemon and tell her that Zoe was thinking about joining. "I've only lived here for a month and I'll probably move back to Mobile in the fall for school, so I don't know a lot about the town. And I didn't even know I was a legacy." It probably wasn't necessary to keep talking, but it would be kind of nice to have someone new to talk to. Being polite was probably her best bet.

"Well, just let me know!" AnnaBeth said cheerfully, getting up from the table. "Or let Lemon know. She'd be thrilled, honestly." Even AnnaBeth herself didn't sound too sure about that, but she kept a smile on her face. "I've got to get going, but I'm sure I'll see you around!"

Zoe returned the smile and said goodbye. She knew there was no way she would join the Belles, but she was glad AnnaBeth had dropped by anyway. It was the kick start she needed to think about something she had been putting off since she'd arrived in BlueBell. Could she stay in BlueBell? When she had agreed to move it was with the thought that she would only stay for the summer, but now it felt like she had a lot more to stay in BlueBell for. She had made a great friend in Lavon, and she could certainly make more, even if she didn't join the Belles. There was also Wade, in whatever role he played in her life. And now there were actual familial roots she could explore.

Even though Zoe wasn't sure she wanted to delve into research about the Wilkes side of her genes, she felt more grounded in BlueBell than she had before. At the start of the summer she had felt like a visitor, but now the town felt more like home. She had her routines there and every day she felt a little more like she belonged there. The idea of staying was tempting. She had no idea how well that would work logistically, traveling to Mobile every day for classes, but the idea of moving away made her sad.

When she got back to the clinic after lunch, she decided to ask Brick what he thought. Brick was hardly her number one fan in town, but if he offered to keep her on as an intern then her decision would be obvious. "Hey Brick, you know what I was thinking about earlier?" Zoe said, jumping up to sit on the counter in the exam room while Brick cleaned off the table. "I think we work really well together, don't you?"

Brick gave what Zoe thought to be a very rude snort. "If you really thought that, you'd know that I don't like it when you sit on the counters."

"Sorry," Zoe said quickly, jumping down. "But I still think we do work well together. And I think I have a lot I can learn from you, too. Much more than I can learn in just one summer, in fact. So I was thinking, what if I stayed around a little while longer?" She looked at Brick hopefully, but his attention was still on his cleaning.

"Isn't that what you have teachers and classes for?" Brick asked. "I can't offer you a paying job, if that's what you're after. You're not even qualified to do anything more than answer the phone."

Zoe sighed. "I know that," she said. Brick loved to point that out, even though she was only a year away from graduating medical school. "I don't need you to pay me. I just think that it might be nice if I can keep interning here for a little while. Even though I want to be a surgeon, I think it's good to have experience in different settings."

"Zoe, this is a small clinic," Brick said. "Aside from flu season, you're not going to see much more than you've already seen. I'm happy to let you finish the summer but I just don't see a point in continuing beyond that. If it helps, I'll write you some kind of recommendation letter if you want to look for an internship in the city." Seemingly done with the conversation, Brick walked back out into the lobby and started flipping through his appointment book.

She knew she shouldn't have been too disappointed, but Zoe thought that if she could extend the internship then she would have a solid reason for staying in BlueBell. She liked it there, but that wasn't exactly a practical reason to keep living at Lavon's instead of near school. If she wanted to stay, she could. Nothing said that she had to go back to Mobile. It was just logical, though. That's where school was, and where job opportunities would be in the future. BlueBell was supposed to be a vacation for her. Sooner or later, she would have to get back to her real life. But her conversation with AnnaBeth had made her hope that maybe someday she could belong in BlueBell. The idea of being Belle legacy didn't do much for her, but she liked the idea that maybe somebody would want her to stay.


	17. The Windows Down And The Seat Laid Back

A/N: Every time I hear Just Gettin' Started I think about how completely inappropriate it as a title for this fic because the song is about banging in a truck and this is proving to be a very slow burn. But I'm too awkward to write about Zoe and Wade banging in his truck. Although I'm sure that would be delightful.

* * *

Zoe liked the days when the Rammer Jammer wasn't busy. It meant that she could sit at the counter with a glass of iced tea and just hang out for a little while. And the best part was, no one minded. There was no way she ever could have found a job like that in Mobile. People in BlueBell were okay with taking things a little more slowly, though. If everything in the Rammer Jammer was clean then her job was done for the time being.

"I don't know how you can drink that crap," Wade said as Zoe refilled her tea. "It tastes like rotten grass."

"Well, I don't know how you can drink sweet tea," Zoe said, frowning at his glass of what was essentially sugar water. "There's more sugar in that than there is in a can of Coke." She didn't know that for sure, but she was willing to bet she wasn't far off. Watching Wade mix up a pitcher of sweet tea made her teeth hurt. She hoped that the people of BlueBell were visiting their dentists regularly.

"It's good," Wade said. "If you'd actually give it a real try, you'd know that."

Zoe thought trying a sip of sweet tea before had been a good enough effort, but apparently not. "I'm not big on acquired tastes," she said. "Why would I want to drink something terrible dozens of times just to get used to it so I can keep drinking it? It's a waste when I could just stick with things I already like."

"How are you ever going to grow with an attitude like that?" Wade asked, mocking Zoe. She had said the same thing when she suggested that he try the sushi she had ordered in the other night instead of eating a cheeseburger like usual.

"If I don't bug you about trying good foods, will you not bug me about trying terrible drinks?" Zoe asked.

Wade clinked his glass of tea against hers. "Deal," he said. Outside, the wind picked up and the rain that had been coming down all morning started pelting the door. "You know, I should just throw up the closed sign and head home," he said. "Isn't that the point of being a business owner?"

"I don't think so," Zoe said. "It's not a great way to have a profitable business."

Wade snorted. "Yeah, because the five bucks I might make off anyone willing to go out in the rain is so worth sitting around here all afternoon," he said. He drained his glass of tea and set it in the sink. "Come on," he said, heading to the door.

"Where are we going?" Zoe asked, jumping off her stool. "I don't mind hanging around here. It's dumb to close when it could stop raining in an hour."

"We'll come back for dinner," Wade said, flipping off the neon Open sign. "Around here, rain like this is a free pass to do whatever you want for a few hours."

"I thought you said heat waves were the free pass around here," Zoe said, thinking back to a day the week before when the temperature had soared well over a hundred. Wade had spent the day floating on a raft in Lavon's pond, drinking beer after beer until he tipped off the raft and had to try to swim back to shore. Zoe had been certain he was going to end up drowning, but he had made it in more or less one piece. Zoe, not familiar with the "free pass" aspect of hot days, had parked herself in front of a rickety fan and sweated her ass off.

Wade just shrugged. "A lot of things can be free passes," he said. "Heat waves, rainstorms, snow, town festivals, hangovers."

"Oh, come on," Zoe said shielding her eyes from the rain as they rushed to Wade's truck. "Hangovers do not count as a free pass."

"Then you obviously have never been as hungover as I have," Wade said. The radio in his truck was extremely staticky. Zoe had found it annoying at first, but now it was kind of comforting in a white noise kind of way. She had grown to like driving to the Rammer Jammer with Wade. His truck occasionally smelled like old fish and spilled beer, but she liked spending those few minutes with him. Driving through the rain, it was almost kind of romantic. Zoe looked over at Wade, but he was concentrating on seeing the road in front of them through the downpour. He didn't seem to notice her staring at him, which was probably for the best.

Sometimes it felt like Wade was flirting with her, but it had felt like that since she had known him and nothing had really progressed. Zoe was absolutely certain that she liked him, and she had absolutely no idea if he felt the same way. The thing with Wade was he kind of flirted with everyone. He flirted with the delivery girls who dropped things off at the Rammer Jammer and nearly all of their female customers. Zoe had learned that was just the way Wade was, which made it really hard to figure out what he meant by flirting with her. At times she was sure he didn't even know he was doing it.

"Well, I try not to drink myself into oblivion too often," Zoe said. At 5'2", there wasn't a lot of her to absorb alcohol. It only took a few drinks for her to feel like hopping up on a table and doing something weird. "That's not your plan for this afternoon, is it? Because going back for the dinner shift after that is not a good idea."

"Nope," Wade said, pulling up to the gatehouse. "I'm going to teach you how to play video games."

"Ew," Zoe said, without quite meaning to. Video games had never really interested her. It wasn't fair, but she associated them with dorks with Dorito dust on their fingers. "I mean, why?"

"They're important," Wade insisted. Once they got inside he grabbed two beers out of his little refrigerator and directed her to the couch. "There is no better way to spend a day like this then playing video games for a few hours." He smirked. "Okay, I can think of a couple of better ways. But we'll start with the video games."

Comments like that were the reason Zoe was sure Wade was flirting with her. Zoe tried not to read too much into it, though. "So what are we playing?" Zoe asked. She didn't know a lot about video games, but it seemed like the kind that were popular were the ones where people ran around shooting each other. Those didn't interest in the slightest. Even though she wasn't into video games, she could see at least trying something like Guitar Hero. But she was pretty sure that as an actual musician, Wade did not feel the need to play a fake guitar.

She was right. "Grand Theft Auto," he said, popping a disk into the console. "It's a classic."

"Isn't that the game where you pick up prostitutes and steal cars?"

"It's right there in the title, Doc," Wade said. "This isn't a multiplayer game, so I'll just kind of show you what to do." For a few minutes Zoe tried to figure out what he was doing, but he was clicking so many buttons that she had no idea how to even follow along. It kind of seemed like Wade just wanted to play the game instead of actually teaching Zoe how to do it.

After a little bit, he handed her the controller. "You want to try it?" he asked, picking up his beer. Zoe had already finished hers, because drinking beer was a lot more interesting than watching someone play a video game she didn't understand.

"Uh, not really," she said. "It doesn't seem like there's really a point. Don't most games have a way to win? You were just driving around."

Wade tried to explain that there were missions and things that you could do, but Zoe completely zoned out. She was kind of buzzed from her beer and she just could not bring herself to care about how to play Grand Theft Auto. She let Wade keep talking though, because he seemed to be genuinely interested in explaining it to her. It was kind of fun to see Wade enthusiastic about something. Usually he was normally laidback, almost annoyingly so. It was hard to get him positively worked up about things. It was easy for her to annoy him, but she didn't see him get excited much. It was kind of cute.

Instead of playing herself, Zoe handed the controller back to Wade under the pretense of letting him demonstrate the game more. She grabbed another beer and settled back against the couch, perfectly content to just relax and listen to the rain. It didn't take her long to start to nod off. Every few minutes some kind of exclamation from Wade caused her to jerk awake, but it didn't bother her too much. She didn't get to nap for very long, though. After a little while Wade nudged her awake.

"You're wasting your free day," he said. "You can take a nap any time. I was trying to teach you a new skill."

"I thought a free day meant you could do whatever you wanted," Zoe said through a yawn. "Naps are a good choice."

"Well, you're spilling beer on my couch," Wade complained. As she started to fall asleep Zoe had wedged her bottle between two couch cushions, but it had started to tip over.

She straightened the bottle and patted at the wet spot. "Like it hasn't happened before," she said. "How's your game going?"

Wade stretched, raising his arms above his head. At some point he had taken off his shirt and was just wearing a tank top that really highlighted the muscles in his arms. "It's better than spending a free pass sleeping. Did you know you snore?"

Zoe punched him in the arm. "I do not," she said. "And even if I did it would still be less annoying than you yelling at your TV. Also, if it's really a free pass I can do whatever I want. I chose taking a nap while you were playing your ridiculous game."

"That's boring though," Wade said. "The real point of a free pass is to do something you'd never normally do. Remember last week when Tom Long lost his damn mind and tried to climb that tree in town and the fire department had to get him down? _That's _what a free pass is for. So you better use your next free pass right. They don't come around that often."

"There have been two in the last two weeks," Zoe said. "They don't seem that rare."

"This could be your last one for a while," Wade warned her. "It's still raining and you've got a couple of hours before the dinner shift, so what are you going to do with the rest of your free pass?"

He was looking at her with a surprising intensity, challenging her. He didn't believe that Zoe could actually let loose and do something crazy. And while that was normally true, she wanted to prove him wrong. She wanted to show Wade that she could be just as good at using a free pass as he was. Maybe she wasn't the type to get wasted out of her mind in the middle of a pond, but she could do something. And with Wade staring at her like he could somehow she what she was thinking, she knew what she wanted to do.

Before she could talk herself out of the ridiculousness that was the rainy day free pass, she grabbed Wade's face and kissed him. She had never kissed someone out of nowhere like that, but she was pleased to find out that it was not entirely unwanted. For a minute Wade seemed into it, or at least too surprised to pull away. It didn't take long for Zoe's mind to return to her, though. She moved back, slightly embarrassed by her actions. "I don't know what that was," she admitted.

Wade pulled her back toward him and pushed her hair away from her face. "Don't worry about it, Doc," he said into her ear. Zoe shivered slightly. "You're allowed to use your free pass however you want."


	18. Made It Halfway To Town

A/N: I actually wrote a version of this chapter immediately after the last one but I was sitting on it for a few days because it didn't feel quite right and I'm glad I did because today I realized what it needed: Wade!

* * *

Wade was about to walk into Lavon's kitchen the next morning when he overheard someone say his name. Instead of barging in, he decided to hang out by the door and listen for a minute. Not surprisingly, Zoe was complaining about him to Lavon.

"You need to get yourself some girl friends," Lavon said, though he didn't sound all that annoyed. Lavon had warmed up to Zoe quickly, even though it seemed like all she did was drag him into ridiculous girl talk. He just listened and kept the pastries coming. The pastries that were currently being blocked by a conversation Wade didn't want to be a part of.

"I just can't believe I kissed him," she said. She tried to explain in more detail but Lavon cut her off in the same way he always did to Wade whenever he tried to tell him about a girl. For such a cool guy, Lavon was surprising prudish. It went with his good old southern gentleman mayor image.

Zoe continued complaining that she had no idea what to do about the situation and had no idea what to say to him when she saw him, which seemed like the perfect segue for Wade to walk in. And then Zoe said something that made him hesitate. "This never would have happened if it wasn't for that stupid free pass."

Technically speaking, the rest of the town did not recognize rainy days as free passes. Wade had started doing that when he realized that there was no reason not to. People didn't like going out when it was raining heavily, so no one would miss him if he went off to do whatever he wanted. Lavon explained that to Zoe, and she cursed. "I knew something about that didn't sound right," she said. "Wait, do you think he used that as an excuse to make a move on me?" she asked Lavon.

He pointed out that Zoe had said she kissed Wade first, and that he didn't know. Zoe whined for a couple more minutes and then headed toward the door, probably leaving to work at the clinic. Wade jumped behind a plant so she wouldn't see him, which was extremely mature. After she had walked away he headed into the kitchen. "Morning," he said, heading right to the coffee machine. "You have any of that apple strudel from yesterday left?"

Lavon grabbed a box out of the cupboard and handed it to him. "You need to talk to Zoe," he said sternly. "She is going to drive me crazy talking about you."

"Hey, you heard her," Wade said. "She kissed me. I was just playing Grand Theft Auto."

"And you haven't used that fake free pass move before?"

Actually, Wade hadn't. Whenever he decided to give himself an extra free pass he used it to just hang out. Some people went crazy during heat waves and confessed their love to neighbor or something but Wade liked using them to be a little lazier than usual. "All I did was try to teach her how to play video games," Wade said easily. "I didn't propose to her or anything."

Lavon still looked suspicious. "Have you ever tried to teach a girl how to play video games before?" he asked.

"What is this, a trial? It was no big deal," Wade said. True, he had never bothered trying to teach any other girl video games before, but that was because in 2015 most people knew how to play video games. "She just needed to relax. She's so wound up about everything." And in the end, she had ended up relaxing. She was probably all wound up again now, though.

Wade finished his breakfast and headed to the Rammer Jammer. Shelly had said she would open that morning, but she wasn't exactly reliable. Zoe was a much better employee than Shelly, even though she did tend to complain about the food every chance she got. It was kind of annoying, but Zoe did a lot of things that were annoying. They never really bothered Wade too much, though. He was used to it. She wouldn't be Zoe if she wasn't a little bit annoying.

Even at the height of her annoyingness, Wade couldn't imagine not having her around. He hadn't known her for very long in the grand scheme of things, but she had managed to make herself a big part of his life. He wasn't really sure what to do about that. Speaking honestly, he liked her. Of course he liked her. He wasn't an idiot who didn't know how to figure out his feelings. It was figuring out what to do with them that was the problem.

He wasn't the kind of guy who would just go up to her and tell her that he liked her. Everything about that just felt deeply ridiculous. It somehow felt childish, like passing a note with checkboxes for whether or not you liked someone. Wade was pretty sure adult relationships were supposed to develop a bit more naturally than that. He wasn't sure, though. He hadn't actually been in a real relationship. Out of high school he had dated Tanzy for a while, but they had done more breaking up than they had having a good relationship. And Zoe seemed like the kind of girl who wouldn't waste her time messing around with a mediocre relationship.

The heart of the issue was that Wade simply didn't feel good enough for Zoe. He didn't actually think he was beneath her or anything, but he was fairly sure that Zoe wanted someone more like herself. Someone else who was going to be a doctor, or a lawyer or something. Wade and Zoe just didn't have similar lives, and they never would. Now that he owned the Rammer Jammer, he felt set. For years he had dreamed of having his own bar. If in the future another opportunity to open a bigger place opened up then maybe he would take it, but for now he was happy. But he knew Zoe wanted more. She had dreams of being a big shot doctor, and those dreams probably didn't include staying in BlueBell.

Wade didn't know if he should say anything to Zoe about what had happened the night before, but he had a long time to think about it. By the time Zoe showed up for work the Rammer Jammer had become slammed and he spent a solid hour working his ass off to get people their drinks and food. Zoe was running around too, doing much better than she had a month ago when she first started. Once things calmed down a little, she walked behind the counter and poured herself a glass of water. "It's crazy tonight," she said.

He nodded. "It gets like that," he said, deciding to try to feel out the conversation before actually saying anything. Maybe Zoe didn't even want to talk about their kiss.

She was quiet for a moment, but then spoke up again. "Hey, Lavon said there's no such thing as rainy day free passes," she said. "He said they only count for snow and heatwaves."

"And hangovers," Wade couldn't help but add.

"Well, Lavon didn't add that, but he definitely said there are no free passes when it rains."

Wade shrugged. "Anything counts as a reason for a free pass if you want one," he said. "It's not like we're in high school anymore with people telling us what to do. If no one's around, I might as well go home and do something I want to do. I'm not getting paid sitting at home, but I'm not getting paid in an empty restaurant either."

"True," Zoe said slowly. "But isn't it better to use a free pass when there's a legitimate reason to? It makes it more special that way."

Wade laughed. "Special? It's just a day off, doc."

"A day off when you kissed me," Zoe blurted, like she couldn't help herself. Now they were getting somewhere. Wade had figured it would come up sooner or later since she had been bugging Lavon that morning.

"You started it," Wade had to point out. His instinct was to get her riled up.

"Can't you be serious for five minutes?" Zoe complained. "Did that mean nothing to you?"

Wade wasn't sure what to say to that. On the surface, a kiss was just a kiss. He had kissed a lot of girls over the years, and it never really went beyond that. Well, it went beyond kissing, but not in a relationship kind of way. "What, do you want me to tell you you're pretty or something?" he asked. Zoe didn't seem to like that response. "Look, doc, I don't know. I don't do a lot of that romance stuff."

Zoe looked crestfallen. "You asked me to move here and work with you," she said. "I kind of thought that meant you were interested in me, and that maybe this could go somewhere. Like, maybe to dinner." She stared at him, waiting for him to say something. Wade knew he should, but it was kind of fun to stay quiet. "Like on a date. I'm asking you on a date," she clarified.

"Ohh, I didn't catch that the first time," Wade joked. He liked that Zoe had decided to ask him on a date, because he wasn't sure he would have talked himself into asking her. "If I say yes, you can't get your expectations up too high," he warned her. "I'm not going to wear a suit or get you flowers or anything." Maybe that would happen someday, but getting a girl flowers on a first day to impress her was just too damn cheesy. "And I don't want to go to Fancie's," he added. "I hate that place."

"We can go somewhere else," Zoe promised. "We can actually leave BlueBell and see what else is out there."

If Zoe had wanted to go to Fancie's, he probably would have said yes but it was a lot better that she had agreed with him. "Tomorrow night?" he suggested. "I can have Shelly cover for me. She owes me one." He knew he should really fire Shelly since she always seemed at least slightly hungover and called out all the time, but she could be pretty funny when she was up to it. And she was a surprisingly good waitress even when she was hungover. Plus she had been teasing Wade about Zoe since she had moved to BlueBell. She would probably be happy to hear that they were actually moving forward.

"Sure," Zoe agreed. She hopped off the stool she was sitting on and headed to wipe down tables, but Wade could tell she was smiling. Wade felt like smiling himself. Zoe would probably decide sooner or later that BlueBell and Wade weren't for her, but at least they could try something.


	19. Talking Bout A Six Pack

A/N: This chapter was such a struggle because I could just not picture Wade and Zoe on a nice normal date having regular conversations! Also when Zoe was nervous at the beginning I got nervous too because I am not great with reality I guess. So that led to some procrastination. But I finally got it done.

* * *

A date? A _date? _What had Zoe been thinking? When she had asked Wade the day before it had felt like she was doing the right thing, but now that Wade was going to be picking her up in an hour and thirty six minutes she was second guessing herself. She didn't know what to wear or how to do her hair or even where they should go. Since she was the one who suggested the date she thought that she should probably at least have a suggestion for dinner, but she didn't know the area well. She could suggest one of the restaurants in Mobile that she liked, but she didn't necessarily want to go on a first date to a place where she already had history. But maybe that was better, because she would know what was good and could give Wade suggestions. But then maybe Wade wouldn't want help ordering dinner, since he was an adult who probably already knew what kind of food he liked.

Zoe didn't date. Her last date had been close to a year ago, with a classmate who was vegan and scowled at Zoe when she ordered a chicken Caesar salad. It obviously hadn't gone anywhere, but now Zoe was wishing that it had. Not because she had actually liked they guy, but because she felt like she could use a little more dating experience. She was sure that as soon as Wade picked her up he was going to know that she had no idea what she was doing. Wade probably knew what he was doing. With as attractive and charming as he was he had probably been on a million dates with women way more confident than Zoe was. She knew there was no way she could compete with the women she pictured Wade with and she was wondering if she had been dumb to even try.

"Pull yourself together," she reprimanded herself, looking in the mirror. She had been examining her eyebrows, lamenting how she probably should've gotten them waxed. Wade probably wouldn't even notice the stray hairs, but she felt strangely self-conscious about them. Since she saw Wade every day, she felt like she really had to step up and make an effort for their date. If she showed up looking like she always did she was worried she would give off the impression that she didn't care that much. Since that was the opposite of the truth, she had been agonizing all day. She had considered going and looking for a dress to wear, but figured that anything she could purchase in BlueBell would not be her style. In the end she settled on the one black skirt she had brought paired with one of her nicer tank tops. Upgrading her wardrobe would be her first priority after graduation. Being fashionable hadn't seemed that important in Alabama, but now she missed her nicer clothes languishing in her closet at her mother's apartment.

Wade had texted her that he would pick her up at seven, which she knew actually meant seven and not a quarter after. At ten to, Zoe decided she couldn't just hang around and wait for him. She was going to make herself crazy if she did that. She was just walking up to Wade's as he walked out his front door.

"I'm not even late yet, Doc," he said, looking at his watch. "You just couldn't wait, could you?"

"I figured I'd save you the trip," Zoe said, trying to sound light and unconcerned even though she was nervous as hell. "And now we can use this extra time to figure out somewhere to go for dinner." She went to open the door to the truck because she felt awkward just standing around the driveway, but Wade beat her to it. "Thank you," she said, surprised. Wade didn't seem like the door opening kind of guy.

Wade waved it off and jumped up in his own seat. "They just opened a Burger King in Fillmore," he said. "I thought we could check that out."

He said it so casually that Zoe was taken aback for a moment. "Good one," she said as he smirked at her.

"You thought I was serious," Wade said. "This is gonna be a fun date." He started the truck and pulled out of the drive, turning down the radio when it started blasting some country song. "Lavon recommended a Mexican place a couple of towns over. Do you like Mexican?"

"I love Mexican food," Zoe said excitedly. "I had no idea there was a Mexican place near here." She had lived down the block from a great Mexican restaurant in Mobile and had been bummed when she found out there wasn't one in BlueBell or Fillmore. She would feel silly asking Lavon to borrow his car to go all the way to Mobile just to pick up take out.

"It depends on your definition of 'near'," Wade said as they drove past the Welcome to BlueBell sign.

He wasn't kidding. Half an hour later they were still driving with no restaurant in sight. They had chatted a little bit about work and what foods they liked, but the conversation wasn't exactly sparkling. Zoe wondered if Wade was feeling a little nervous too but he looked as relaxed as he always did. He didn't even seem bothered by the fact that Zoe felt like she had nothing to say. He was just watching the road, one arm resting on the open window. It made Zoe feel a little better, like it was okay if she didn't push a conversation. Zoe wasn't tuned in to first date protocol, but if Wade didn't mind sitting quietly with the radio playing then she could follow his lead.

In a way, the silence was nice. It wasn't the awkward silence of two people who had nothing to say to each other, but the kind of silence that just comes with time. It gave Zoe hope for their date. They were already neighbors and co-workers, so they had spent enough time together to feel comfortable around each other. Zoe was more worried about the idea of being on a date than the fact that she was on a date with Wade. It was the formality of the first date that stressed her out and not so much Wade himself. She knew from being around Wade that she liked him and was fairly sure that he liked her too, but something about actually going out on a proper date was nerve-wracking. If the date went badly it could mess everything up. But she wanted something more than just making out on the couch while playing Grand Theft Auto.

Zoe was still a little on edge when they got to the restaurant, but she tried to act normal. They made it through ordering drinks and appetizers with no problems but once the waitress walked away the silence started to linger again. "I wish I could be more like you," Zoe admitted after a moment. She hadn't quite intended to actually voice that thought, but she already knew what he did for a living and if he had any pets so the first date talk had already been covered.

"Hey, not everyone can look this good in plaid," Wade said, flipping idly through the menu.

"I meant so…" Zoe tried to think of a word that felt right. "Cool," she said finally. "Nothing seems to bother you."

"You bother me sometimes," Wade pointed out. "Like when you leave every damn thing in your place plugged in and the fuse box blows in the middle of an important game."

Zoe did do that a lot. She kept forgetting that the carriage house couldn't support both the million year old lamps and her cappuccino machine at once. "I meant just in general life," she said. "Like, you're not nervous or anything right now."

"Why would I be? I've eaten Mexican food before."

"That's what I mean!" Zoe said as the waitress brought over their drinks. Zoe had opted for a margarita, hoping the tequila would either calm her down or make her more interesting. "I haven't been on a first date in... a while. And I forgot how stressful they are." She took a sip of her margarita, enjoying the tartness.

"How long is 'a while'?" Wade asked.

Zoe should have expected that when she brought it up, even though she had tried to be vague. "About a year," she said. "I don't really date much."

"You seem like a relationship kind of girl," Wade said, nodding.

She was, but not recently. Zoe wasn't sure how much she was supposed to share on a first date. "I guess so," she said, selecting a chip from the basket on their table.

Wade leaned forward on his crossed arms. "So, what's the ex like?" he asked. "Smart, I bet. Probably a doctor."

"He's probably not a doctor yet," Zoe said. They had been in the same year together at NYU so unless he had been working his ass off every summer it was unlikely that he had finished med school. "I don't know what he's like now. We don't exactly keep up with each other on Facebook or anything."

"So it's an old boyfriend," Wade deduced. "You couldn't convince him to come to Alabama with you?"

Wade seemed like he was joking, but it was kind of a sore point for Zoe. Her boyfriend had gotten into the Columbia medical school and she had not. She hadn't even bothered asking him about the possibility of going to Alabama with her since he had such a great opportunity in the city. "We broke up before then," Zoe said, which was true. "Do you talk about ex-boyfriends with all your dates?"

"I've gotta know who might be coming after me," Wade said. "There are some big guys around here."

Considering Zoe's ex only drank light beer and dabbled in vegetarianism, Wade didn't have much to worry about. "Well, I'm sure he's still in New York so I wouldn't worry about it. And seriously, it was three years ago." She took another drink of her margarita, deciding to turn the conversation around. "What about you? Any ex-girlfriends I should be watching my back for?"

He practically snorted. "Hell no," he said. He cut off a piece of his quesadilla and dunked it in the spicy salsa he had ordered. "Well, I almost got married once," he added as an afterthought. "We passed a bar on the way to the courthouse thought and got a little distracted."

Zoe nearly coughed up a mouthful of rice. "How have you never mentioned that before?" she asked. Even outside of dating, that was the kind of thing that was usually talked about between friends at some point.

"It never came up," Wade said. "And Tanzy left BlueBell a couple of months before I did. I kind of forgot about it. It all blew over fast."

Only Wade could forget about almost getting married. "When was that?" she asked.

"A few years ago. She dumped me pretty soon after that when she decided she wanted to go to beauty school instead of hang around BlueBell."

That wasn't especially surprising. Zoe watched enough TV to know that if you were planning on getting married but didn't, things didn't usually last long after that. "Join the club," she said, stabbing a piece of chicken from her burrito. "My boyfriend dumped me because he said I spent more time on school stuff than with him."

Wade raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you?"

"Probably," Zoe admitted. "But I guess getting into a good med school was more important to me than having a boyfriend." And she had ended up in freaking Alabama anyway. A couple of things had gone wrong there. Still, she didn't regret her choices. Relationships could be so fleeting, and having a good education would shape the entire course of her career.

Wade nodded. "You don't seem like you mess around with that kind of stuff," he said after swallowing a mouthful of food. Zoe had to give him points for not talking with his mouth full.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoe didn't think it was a bad thing and Wade didn't sound like he was insulting her, but she did think for a second that maybe Wade found her boring. He was the type to go out and date and see different girls, after all. If that's what he was into, her lifestyle might seem really dull.

"Nothing," Wade said, sounding like he meant it. "You're just really focused."

Another girl might have found a way to turn that into some sort of come-on about how she was focused on him how or something, but she could not imagine something like that coming out of her mouth. Instead she just talked about school for a little while, carefully watching Wade for signs of boredom. She knew talking about school probably wasn't that interesting, but she wasn't sure what to talk about. School seemed like a safe enough topic, since she was pretty sure Wade had no interest in talking about shoes or her favorite restaurants in Manhattan.

It turned out school wasn't a terrible topic, because Wade chimed in with plenty of stories from high school. Once Wade started talking more about BlueBell High, Zoe just stopped talking and listened. It was fun to hear about the school's traditions and the people Wade had been there with. Zoe was surprised to learn that he and Lemon had actually been pretty good friends in high school. "Back when she was fun," Wade clarified as the waitress dropped off their bill. "She's too busy with the Belles to be any fun now."

"AnnaBeth actually asked me to join the Belles," Zoe said. Wade held the door open for her on their way out, which was nice. Even after being in Alabama for a few years she was still used to New Yorkers primarily just looking out for themselves. "Apparently I'm a legacy. I don't think Lemon would want me to join, though. And I don't want to join," she added as an afterthought.

Wade laughed incredulously. "You, a Belle? AnnaBeth must be crazy." As they drove through the town, Wade pointed out something up ahead. "That bar looks right up your alley."

"The sign isn't even neon," Zoe noted. The place did look nice, but for some reason she didn't feel like hanging out in a strange bar. "You know what? I kind of just want to go back to the Rammer Jammer."

"Yeah?" Wade drove past the bar and headed back to the highway. "You know we work there, right?"

"You picked where we went for dinner so I'm picking where we go for drinks," Zoe said. "I like the Rammer Jammer." A new song that she recognized started on the radio and she turned it up. Before moving to BlueBell she had never purposely listened to the country radio stations, always seeing out a pop one. She was coming to accept country music, though. It wasn't that bad, just like the slightly dive-y Rammer Jammer wasn't bad. She would probably never be a southern girl, but she was getting used to it.

Wade sang along with the radio on the way back and Zoe tried to keep up, but she didn't actually know the words to any of the songs. She had fun trying, though. Wade's encouraging smile was enough to make her not feel too embarrassed. By the time they pulled up to the Rammer Jammer all the nervousness Zoe had felt at the beginning of the night felt far behind. "I almost forgot we were on a date," Zoe said to Wade while he parked the car. "This has been a lot different than dates I've been on."

"Because you were with someone fun?" Wade suggested, offering Zoe a hand as she hopped out of the truck. She shoved his arm playfully. "Besides, the night isn't over yet, Doc. There's still plenty more we can do."

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Zoe said, though it was hard not to smile back at him when he was grinning at her like that. "Let's just start with some drinks, shall we?" Whatever might happen after the drinks could remain up in the air for a little bit longer. It was a first date, after all, but it was a first date with Wade. Who knew?


End file.
